What do you think? Will a $100 re-branding and advertising push turn Microsoft’s new incarnation of its Live Search product, named Bing, create more than a blip in the radar screen of Google’s online search monopoly?
The short answer — it’s doubtful.
The long answer — it’s even more doubtful.
Let’s face it. Google owns the online search market. We live in a Google world. A $100 investment by Microsoft to rebrand Live Search and attempt to steal market share from Google seems like a bizarre marketing strategy to me. I don’t care how much money they throw at the Bing initiative, there are too many strikes against Microsoft to become a search powerhouse at this point.
I’m not saying Microsoft’s Bing won’t do well. I’m sure it will survive just fine, but is this really the best Microsoft could come up with to save it’s flailing brand and business? Once again, they’ve missed the boat. Consumer’s haven’t been asking Microsoft for the next Google. They’ve been asking Microsoft to fix what’s already wrong with the brand, the company, and its products. In other words, trying to divert focus from Vista wrapped in Windows 7 clothing isn’t going to fix the core brand problems.
I know Microsoft wants to gain a stronger foothold at the Google party, but the writing has been on the wall for a long time that they need to refocus the brand first. Google wanna-be products aren’t the remedy to re-energizing the brand.
Oh Microsoft, why do you disappoint us again and again? Can’t you just give us an operating system that works well? How about spending $100 million on that?
I guess that’s why I finally broke down and bought a Mac last year. I still use my Windows-based PC, but I curse out Windows far more often than I curse out my Mac. And don’t even get me started on Internet Explorer.
How about you? Would you trust the Microsoft brand to give you a search engine that works well given their current brand image? Would you choose Bing over Google? What would make you switch?
Good luck climbing the Google brand mountain, Microsoft, but my money’s still on Google.
Image: Flickr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
it is only a matter of time before Bing Microsoft acquires Yahoo search engine”~:
You were wrong!