Microsoft To Throw $100 Million At Their Search Market Share Problem

AdvertisingAge reports Microsoft is going to spend between $80 and $100 million in an effort to take market share away from Google and Yahoo in the search space. Microsoft has had a tough time branding their search portal, they even mocked their own attempts yesterday, on calling their search portal “MSN Windows Live Search on […]

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AdvertisingAge reports Microsoft is going to spend between $80 and $100 million in an effort to take market share away from Google and Yahoo in the search space.

Microsoft has had a tough time branding their search portal, they even mocked their own attempts yesterday, on calling their search portal “MSN Windows Live Search on [email protected].” We don’t know what the new brand will be for Microsoft’s search engine. Will it be Microsoft Search, Kumo, Windows Search, MSN Search or remain Live Search – we don’t know. Microsoft did reveal tests of Microsoft’s latest search interface, code named Kumo, a few weeks back.

The new campaign will cost close to a $100 million and will consist of ads online, TV, print and radio. To execute the campaign, Microsoft hired marketing firm JWT. The campaign is expected not to pin Microsoft’s search engine against Google or Yahoo, but rather position it “as a reimagined search engine that ups the game by yielding fewer but more-focused results,” said AdAge.

So far, most of Microsoft’s marketing efforts have not been successful in capturing Google’s market share. Maybe a $100 million will make a dent or maybe not.


About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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