Short Takes: Bing’s 999 Plan

October 19, 2011 • 1 min read • By Mike Shields

Microsoft’s fledgling search engine Bing has been scrappy in its battle with Google. It isn’t shy about buying ads on Google to promote its alternative. Now it’s hijacking the political conversation, outbidding GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain to show ads in response to searches for “999” and “Herman Cain 999.”

The ads encourage searchers to check out Bing’s information on “The 999 Explained.” Bing’s results are fairly similar to Google’s, except it puts news results tied to 999 higher. It’s a clever move, but it’s not as if clickers will find a radically different (and better) experience. Therein likes Bing’s problem. While it’s tinkered with improving search, it hasn’t radically improved it from what people already get from Google, which is synonymous with search.

Clearly, with Cain’s candidacy suddenly taking center stage — the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO has risen to the top of several polls — Bing is looking to glom onto any related search traffic generated by Cain’s equally catchy, intriguing and puzzling 9-9-9 tax plan, which most of the GOP candidates hammered during Tuesday’s debate on CNN.

What’s seriously puzzling is why Microsoft was the only one who thought of this tactic. Why haven’t Gov. Mitt Romney or Rep. Michelle Bachmann pounced on this wave of interest in Cain’s ideas, and 999 specifically? Seems like a golden opportunity to continuing hammering this proposal, and presenting a candidate’s own tax proposal.

Thanks to Ben Kunz for pointing out the search ad.

https://digiday.com/?p=2117

Digiday Top Stories

Life Beyond the Cookie
‘Not the future’: European publishers remain steadfast in blocking alternative IDs to third-party cookies
Some European publishers believe alternatives to the third-party cookies, probabilistic or deterministic, will do more harm than good to their ads businesses.
Member Exclusive
Media Briefing: Why Leaf Group spun off its media arm into a standalone company
World of Good's newly appointed CEO Lindsey Abramo spoke with Digiday about her plans to lean into experiential and embrace niche vs. scale.
Navigating Economic Instability
Dentsu’s latest ad report shows slowed growth, driven mostly by inflation
The good news in Dentsu's ad forecast is that there's still growth. The bad news: most of the growth is the result of inflation, while real ad pricing actually dropped a bit.
Sponsored
What the measurement and currency discussion really means to TV advertisers
Ali Mack, head of TV and agency, Experian Major streaming video providers have recently made headlines by adopting new currencies for ad measurement, threatening Nielsen’s long-standing TV ratings monopoly. NBCUniversal, for example, has certified iSpot and VideoAmp as currencies for advanced audiences and formed the Joint Industry Committee with Paramount, TelevisaUnivision and Warner Bros. Discovery. […]
The Creator Economy
How chef influencer Tue Nguyen works with the BuzzFeed Creator Network
BuzzFeed's Creator Network has been valuable from an audience and production education standpoint, but Nguyen still drives most of her business on her own.
Experimental Channels
Dentsu’s new Web3 readiness tool shines light on the tech’s potential to complement AI
Dentsu's Innovation Initiative is launching a web3 readiness index next month — at a time when the industry is obsessed with AI. Could the two technologies actually make a good pair?