Bing – Microsoft to spend $80 – $100 Million in Advertising

Microsoft’s new search engine, which was code named Kumo (during the testing phase) is to be launched under the name Bing with a whizz bang US $80 million advertising campaign. According to the Ad Age article, ad giant JWT has been asked to prepare TV, print and radio campaigns to promote the new search engine.

The most interesting aspect of this launch will be seeing how Microsoft differentiates itself from their arch nemesis (and market leading search engine) Google. In the past, Microsoft’s search engine offerings have been plagued by declining traffic numbers and poor user loyalty rates in important markets like the US and UK. These problems have been compounded by lower ad spends as cautious online advertisers and agencies shift their budgets into performing search engines like Google and Yahoo (with Google’s advertiser program enjoying a dominnant position in the US search market). Also after the failed Microsoft-Yahoo deal, the new search engine is carrying a lot of expectations, with the launch Microsoft is hoping to reverse it’s fortunes in the search engine market and tap into the ever growing online ad budgets.