Microsoft is launching a major TV ad campaign promoting its “decision engine” Bing this week as it tries to challenge Google‘s dominance in the UK search market.
The three-month, multi-million pound campaign kicks off on Wednesday with three TV ads each featuring the strapline ‘Bing and Decide’, reports the Guardian.
The ads will emphasise Bing’s attempts to simplify search by reducing the ‘information overload’ which tends to be delivered alongside most requests for information on the internet.
Nevertheless, this approach represents a massive undertaking for Bing which currently only enjoys a 3% toe-hold in the search market, compared to Google’s 90% market share. The TV ads will emphasise the differences between Bing and Google, particularly its use of rich graphics which is in stark contrast to Google’s relatively spartan visual impact.
Speaking to Media Guardian, Microsoft UK’s MD of Consumer & Online Ashley Highfield said, “People feel overawed by the internet and what they turn up when they are searching… we are also in a world where people have forgotten there is an alternative search engine.”
The Bing advertisements will feature ordinary people asking simple questions and receiving garbled, nonsense instead of clear answers.
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