The fruits of Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s $300 million Crispin Porter & Bogusky advertising campaign have thus far elicited mixed reviews, but some Microsoft watchers think the first salvo of ads for Microsoft's new Bing search engine are right on the mark.
Microsoft is trying to make the case that the poor signal-to-noise ratio of today's search engines frustrates users, and the company is believed to be spending up to $100 million to drive this point home through advertisements. The first Bing ad introduced the idea of "search overload" -- the deluge of unrelated results that are often returned with keyword searches -- and equated search chaos with economic chaos.
Much like the infamous Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld ads, the first Bing spot was puzzling -- and even disturbing -- to many viewers, and didn't sufficiently explain what Bing does. But in the following two ads that appeared this week, Microsoft veers into the realm of comic absurdity, showing people babbling nonsensical streams of search keywords whenever they're asked a question.
The idea is to show the weaknesses of keywords, and the result is ads that are more entertaining than anything Microsoft has done to date and show how Microsoft plans to chip away at Google's dominant search market position.
Joe Wilcox, a San Diego-based independent analyst and longtime Microsoft pundit, says the last two Bing ads are effective because they shine light on the deficiencies of Google's keyword-based search business model.
Microsoft has to think about search differently if it wants to change the rules in terms of competing with Google, Wilcox said. "Keywords are a point of vulnerability for Google and they're also a problem for consumers. People often don't get what they want quickly enough," he said.
While Bing has received largely positive reviews, Ron Herardian, president of Global System Services, a Mountain View, Calif.-based solution provider, doesn't think search is "broken" to the extent that Microsoft claims in its Bing ads. "An intelligent user can find exactly what they're looking for using a few basic Google tricks," he said.
As a Microsoft partner, Herardian thinks Bing is proof that Microsoft sees Google, and not Apple, as the biggest threat to its future business.
"Microsoft is more paranoid today about Google than any other company. Compared to Google, Apple is a gnat that Microsoft can swat at any time," Herardian said.
