Is $100 million enough to help Microsoft gain search share?
Summary: A key piece of Microsoft's strategy to increase its search query share is to rebrand it and (finally) market the heck out of it. According to a new report in Advertising Age, "the heck," in this case, is worth about $100 million.
A key piece of Microsoft's strategy to increase its search query share is to rebrand it and (finally) market the heck out of it. According to a new report in Advertising Age, "the heck," in this case, is worth about $100 million.
Ad Age reported on April 1 that advertising agency JWT has won the bid to help Microsoft rebrand and market Live Search. From their story:
"Industry executives expect JWT, part of WPP, to unveil an estimated $80 million to $100 million push for the new search engine in June, with online, TV, print and radio executions."
(JWT is the same agency that last year won the bid to help try to salvage Microsoft's "People Ready" campaign for business software.)
Microsoft is spending an estimated $300 million with agency Crispin Porter to goose its Windows brands via the "Life Without Walls" campaign. It is spending an estimated $200 million in the updated "People Ready" campaign (the current phase of which is known as "It's Everybody's Business"). And now it's going to spend up to $100 million to rebrand Live Search as "Kumo" -- or whatever the final name ends up being. ( I'm still thinking it's Kumo, and not "Kiev" -- a codename I've heard associated more with Microsoft's vertical search properties, like travel, celebrities, healthcare, etc.)
Sure, $100 million is a lot of money. But as one commentator on the Ad Age site noted, Microsoft originally was planning to spend multiple billions ($45 billion, to be precise) to buy Yahoo in order to boost its search share.
What do you think? Will a multi-million dollar ad campaign and rebrand result in more users being willing to "Kumo it," instead of "Google it"?
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Talkback
Could it? Yes. Will it? No.
M$ is getting scared but not that desperate,
Sounds like a waste of money. Everybody already knows what MS is, and they
How about fixing the product first!!!
Oh, and with things like the TomTom lawsuit, they are really hurting their brand, then they think they can just pay to fix the damage.
Khumo is a brand for cheap tires by the way. First thing, spend 10 bucks to come up with a better name.
GET YOUR CORE PRODUCTS RIGHT AND STOP BEING A B*STARD COMPANY.
Rebranded is worthless don't they get that by now?
So sad what is this the 10,000 time?
MSN search, Live search, call it what
True, they can call it ANYTHING they want, but, in the end it is MSN, and
Marketing for MS has always...
However, the consumer has become better educated and marketing has become less effective for MS. Vista is a prime example. And MS' attempt at the Internet has produced dog after dog, much of which they discontinued to keep from being embarrassed.
The IT user has become too sophisticated to be fooled by marketing hype. Of course there are those clueless diehards that continue to bite hook, line and sinker because they can't think for themselves. Or in the case of IT professionals (quite a misnomer), they don't have the skills to rise above products that require thinking so they are stuck being able to do only what MS allows them to do. But with the latter becoming less the norm, marketing is no longer able to convince consumers that flash doesn't equal quality.
MS can spend all they want for marketing. But each dollar spent is giving less and less return.
If MS was giving the consumer what they wanted and giving them true value for their money spent, marketing wouldn't be needed.
Ummmmm...
Marketing for MS
the long term market reputation that MS has
garnered over the years. Bad half baked non-
innovative products, use monopoly as a market
lever, and artificially hype their products while
denigrating the competitors products, and all the
while spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt. The
chickens have come home to roost with respect to
changing this with advertising.
MS search is a bad joke
Nope
Martin Sorrell ain't going to save MSN, you can't polish a .........
5th chance at a 1st impression?
In some ways, M$ has the same problem with Google that Linux has with M$ - if the existing service is good (great?), then why switch? M$ even tried bribery for people to use their Live Search - and that didn't even work.
Google is great. Scroogle(.org) is even better. How does one challenge that?
RE: Is $100 million enough to help Microsoft gain search share?
MSN still exists? Must be nice to have money to burn in this economy.
Excellent idea! I want my $100.(nt)
Ballmer RETIRE!!!
Yes, the ugly fat bald guy with a short deeeiiick is looking more stupid
Insults
The rules changed?
Come on, making fun of executives of large companies is fair game.
the bitter tone isn't necessary