2009 May, 26th

Mihaela Lica

After testing “Kumo” behind closed doors, Microsoft will probably release this new search engine under a different name: Hook, Bing, Sift or Kiev. Apparently “Bing” is the winning candidate, as the news headlines today lead us to believe.

Is “Bing” an Inspired Name Choice?

I think whoever came up with the idea to name the new search engine “Bing” understood that for an online endeavor to succeed it is necessary to give it an “action” name. Bing can easily become a verb “bing it”, “I am binging” and it sounds as silly as “google” and “twitter” for example. I suppose they named it “bing” because they couldn’t name it “bingo” but when they did they probably didn’t take into consideration the following (the list could be made longer, these are just a few examples):

• Bing is slang for prison solitary confinement, a term used by inmates.
• In mining “bing” means a slag heap (also called Boney piles, culm, waste coal, Terekons (Russian), gob piles, or slate dumps).
• Bing is a Chinese term used to describe dough-based Chinese flatbreads, pancakes, unleavened dough foods, or indeed any food item with a flat disk.

I am sure that Microsoft couldn’t care less for these “meanings” of the term. With $80 million set for the campaign to promote Bing, the adjacent meanings of their new brand name are insignificant, unless some big shot notices and starts “bashing” the brand like they did in the past with other unfortunate brand name choices (like Cuil, for example) – because surely an article in The Inquisitr will not make Microsoft change their minds.

$80 Millions Against Google

So, if the name doesn’t really matter (!), what’s next? Are $80 millions enough to convince the search users to switch from Google to Bing, and most importantly, does Bing stand any chance to actually deliver better results than Google?

Microsoft’s new PR/ advertising campaign for Bing will focus on the idea that current search engines (Ask, Google, Yahoo) don’t work as well as they used to. If Bing is refined with Powerset technology (as we all know it is) then yes, it will deliver search results that are more refined than Google’s. But “refined” is not necessarily better. Search results need to be relevant for each user personally, and this is a challenge for any search engine. Google is ahead of Microsoft in this regard, through Google Web History.

So what real chances does Bing stand? The launch campaign will (and it already does) definitely generate enough buzz to push the brand. But a brand push does not make brand loyalty. This is the real advantage of Google. Will Bing manage to convince Google’s fans to make the switch? Will Bing be strong enough to defeat the force of habit (many Google users don’t change to a different search engine not because they “like Google” but because they “are used to it”)?

• 2010/01/21 -- The State of Bing Search Engine Address
• 2009/06/15 -- Is Google Afraid of Bing?
• 2009/05/29 -- Microsoft’s Loudest PR Campaign in Years: It’s Binging
• 2009/06/25 -- Bing vs. Kayak – When Cutthroat Development Leads to Bad PR
• 2009/06/08 -- Waggener Edstom Given World’s Toughest PR Task! Selling Bing
• 2009/12/08 -- Google’s Latest PR Boost, Real Time Search, Worldwide
• 2009/11/06 -- Microsoft Is the Most Engaging Global Property, comScore Reports

About the Author

Mihaela Lica is senior partner at Pamil Visions PR and editor at Everything PR. She is a widely cited authority on search engine optimization and public relations issues (BBC News, Force for Good, Reuters and others), with an experience of over 7 years in online PR and SEO. Mihaela writes for SitePoint, Search Engine Journal, and other online publications. She also maintains a personal blog called eWritings. Follow Mig on Twitter or send her an email at mig [at] pamil-visions [dot] com.

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