Microsoft’s Bing ads are chasing down two ideas. Both are pretty strong but since they are executed together they both lose power and become watered down.
The first idea is the “cure for search overload syndrome.” It is fun, relevant, creates a problem (where one may not exist), and has the potential to be talked about and mimicked. I can see high school kids free-styling stuff like this. The second idea, “the decision engine,” hasn’t been fully carried out in the TV ads but it augers to the core of what searchers want: find, compare and decide. It’s a stand alone idea, not just a campaign tagline.
Were I the brand manager at Microsoft, I’d pick one of these two ideas and stick to it. A tight branding idea is easy to execute. Open the door a bit to another idea and you confuse the consumer. It’s not that hard people. Peace!
