Friday, June 05, 2009

Bing's so good that ...

... it takes millions of dollars and product placements to get people to use it. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I recall how Google took over the marketplace entirely on the strength of its service, even when there was a well-established search engine in place -- Yahoo! Indeed, there were many competitors, but Google destroyed them all. And I don't recall them doing it through advertising. It was entirely through word-of-mouth. Now Microsoft is onto at least its third attempt to promote a search engine. And it's decided to create an entire TV show built around Bing to promote it. Okay, so that might go some distance in the US - if at all. But given that TV viewers, especially those that have money to spend, are turning off their TVs and switching to the internet. And so they're targeting the latter consumers through Hulu, the online video service. Here's how they do it, the chumps:

Those Hulu users who watch the “Bing-a-thon” will receive a reward: the ability to watch TV shows or movies on without commercial interruptions. (Yes, you have to watch a commercial to avoid watching other commercials.)
Pathetic. Anyway, at least in this economy, some businesses will benefit from Microsoft's largesse:
As a seller of technology products and services, Microsoft “is in a highly competitive space,” said Ben Silverman, co-chairman at the NBC Entertainment unit of NBC Universal in Los Angeles, so it needs “innovation marketing” to break through the clutter.
Indeed. Good luck!

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