Whoa, the fourth Bing commercial is simply outstanding. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shouldn’t feel bad about approving that $80 million to $100 million marketing budget. He’s getting good value for the money spent.
Microsoft’s first Bing TV spot is scary. It’s designed to scare the crap out of you. Every bad thing going on now is because of bad search. The doom and gloom reminds me of the TV commercial from Christmas comedy “Scrooged” (see first clip below). There, actor Bill Murray used scare tactics to convince people to watch his fictitious network’s live broadcast of “Scrooge.” That said, the second and third commercials are simply stunning, exactly the kind of marketing Microsoft should be doing for Bing.
WTH! Bing is actually a pretty good search engine. Windows Live Search is dead. Long live Bing. Oh, and, Google, your arse is on fire.
Bing is finally live, at least wherever my IP addresses direct. I started testing Bing against Google this morning. My reaction is what Microsoft marketing demanded I have about Windows Vista but didn’t: “Wow.” Actually, that’s fraking Wow! Who could have guessed.
Too many people are wasting too much energy writing about the name for Microsoft’s new search engine—assuming there is going to be one, rather than made-over Windows Live Search. Kumo, Crapo, Frapo, Wacko—who cares? Microsoft could rebrand search Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, Bozo the Clown or the Muffin Man. Right now, the name shouldn’t matter to anyone, nor will it make much difference against Google’s dominance. Microsoft must fundamentally change how search works.
