Thoughts on Bing (several months later)

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a little baffled and skeptical when Bing launch. I was really unclear on how it was going to slot into Microsoft’s grand scheme for online domination (of which has had hundreds of different faces and worn many hats over the years). And every time, up until now, it’s always seemed like a “flavor of the month” style strategy – how can we design a program or acquire a business with the sole goal of increasing traffic to Microsoft brands (and sign up more people up for a Windows Live ID).

Well, months later we have a pretty clear picture of the soon to be two-player search space is goign to look. Google & Bing. Yes, two brands that have become rivals (or friends, depending on how you look at it) faster than the bully and the dork in 2nd grade. Google is synonymous with search, just as Bing hopes to be as well.

PS – I’m assuming you all know about the Bing/Yahoo! deal

You don’t “use a search engine” to find something, you “Google it.” Yes, oh yes Bing wants to place the “G” in our heads and have us raise our hands (or fingers) and triumphantly “Bing it.”

Now, let me tell you a little bit more about why I was at first confused about Bing’s positioning and goals:

Long before MSN search morphed into “Live Search” the search space was jam packed with players all offering a “unique” market differentiator. ASK Jeeves (you asked a question, simple enough), AOL (fairly easy extension of your then “internet provider”, DogPile (mashed together major engines into one “search dashboard”) and dozens others told you this was “how to search.” Then came along a little college thesis project called “Google” – and the game changed.

Not to mention Yahoo was so well established in those days, it was hard to do anything online without that iconic yodel echoing through your head (hell, it was my ringtone when I worked in eCommerce).

All of these search providers had a “unique stance”. MSN was kind of setting out in the corner, mildly entertaining all the traffic IE 5/6/7 was sending it . This was the case until they realized there was a big problem at hand: MSN had no real search positioning or brand value – IE – people were jumping ship. MSN Search sat in that awkward space as a content publisher that happened to have a search engine. Oh yes, do you remember when the portal was king?

Anycase, the idea was hatched – all Microsoft properties would bare the “Live” branding moniker -  a symbol of living your life online – Live ID, Live Search, XBOX 360 Live, Live Office (and many others) were born!

Just when I thought Live was beginning to cultivate a search culture & build a brand (adCenter improved it’s UI, the Live Search twitter team became a force) market share began to drop; month after month. The obvious problem – lackluster product and the 800 pound gorilla in the room (the name starts with Goo…)

No amount of ad spend can fix a branding problem (or a flawed business model). Just ask WaMU, Vonage or Kmart how effective their ad campiagns are.

So, what was the lifeless and brandless “Live Search” to do? Well, we all know now…go the way of our favorite bird, the dodo.

ComScore and Hitwise are in the business of publishing search market share figures – and even with millions in spend to promote and blanket the earth in all things Bing market share really isnt increaseing…yet.

My take on how to increase market share – innovate, innovate, innovate (and promote it). Couple key examples of this recently – Visual Search & Bing Travel.

Now theres a novel idea – create quality features and promote them.

Now, after all the “new kid on the block” media buzz has ended lets really see what Bing can bring to the table.

MJ, Singing off