The Guardian UK is reporting that Microsoft Bing is preparing to launch a massive TV ad campaign aimed at challenging Google’s dominance in the UK search market. According to the report, the series of Bing promotional TV ads is set to begin airing this week and will be promoting Bing as a “decision engine.”
Microsoft has contracted the services of ad agency JWT. It aims to show how Bing simplifies the “information overload” that accompanies the results of other search engines – obviously hitting on Google.
Microsoft’s UK managing director Ashley Highfield said that people worldwide may have forgotten that there is an alternative search engine.
“People feel overawed by the internet and what they turn up when they are searching,” said Highfield.
The said TV ad campaign feature ordinary people asking for information and getting their answers from Bing, will run for a month and then on a two-week bursts until Mid-June. Backing up the Bing TV ad campaign is an equally massive digital campaign across Microsoft’s network and other media including social networking sites.
It looks like Microsoft is on the final stretch of its promotional campaign for Bing and is now desperate to gain more users even if it cost the company around $2 billion.
This is clearly stated by Mr. Highfield with the following statement:
“It is a battle not just of mind but of heart as well. We are wanting to make an emotional connection – we are ploughing a different furrow here.”
