Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Is Bing What Microsoft Was "Searching" For

Within the past there has been various shifts within the search sector. Consumers have seen the rise and fall of former tech darlings Netscape and AOL. There was a shift to when IE was a popular search engine. Yahoo experienced a period when it was the favorite. Currently, the word Google is synonymous with search. Now, on June 3, 2009 Microsoft has released Bing.


According to a recent article with All Things Digital it states that Microsoft has gained share. Based on data accumulated by comScore, Microsoft has gained approximately 2%. It has increased share from approximately 9% to 11%. Refer to: http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20090610/if-you%e2%80%99re-not-worried-about-bing-why-are-you-talking-about-it-so-much/?reflink=ATD_mktw_quotes

However, the primary question is will Microsoft be able to continue to drive share growth?

To achieve the desired results Microsoft is confronted with two fundamental issues. First, the company is required to create attention and drive consumers towards the product. Microsoft has very deep pockets. Reports indicate that the company has committed $100 million to advertising. Refer to: http://www.marketingvox.com/mfst-shells-out-bucks-for-bing-ad-campaign-044159/

The company has deep pockets to advertise and gain consumer attention, however, will it be positive or negative attention?

Microsoft through previous campaigns have failed to capture consumers through positive advertising. Consider the Seinfeld and Gates ads. The I Am a PC ads. These campaigns were considered terrible ads. The Gates and Seinfeld ads were according to reports nominated for the worst campaign.

The current Bing commerials and campaign are of the same poor caliber as previous campaigns. They fail to create excitement and a desire to use Bing. Refer to:http://www.pcworld.com/article/166067/microsofts_bing_ad_claims_to_terminate_search_overload.html

The next dilemma confronting Microsoft is the ability to retain attention and consumer loyalty. Microsoft has the ability to advertise and gain attention. However, does it have the ability to retain consumers?

Microsoft has become known for creating poor products. Remember Vista and Zune?

The biggest dilemma confronting Microsoft is if Bing will have the consumer loyalty to surpass Google. It will have to be a superior product that will cause consumers to leave Google and use Bing. Considering Google has over 60% of the market, it can easily be determined that Microsoft and Bing have a tremendous amount of convincing to acheive before Google has to feel threatened.

Hopefully for Microsoft and its shareholders Bing will produce some good results.

Hopefully, Bing will produce the results Microsoft has been searching for now for several years. Bottom line is it is going to take perhaps much more then $100 million in advertising to convince consumers to switch from Google to Bing.

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We can be contacted at thecrandreagroup@hotmail.com

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