This week, Microsoft announced its partnership with Facebook in order to enhance Bing’s search results. Eager to begin promoting the new Bing, Microsoft was quick to roll out a new TV ad campaign, dreamed up by ad agency CP&B.
Bing’s "social integration" isn’t such an easy thing to convey in a TV spot. Microsoft’s chief creative officer Gayle Troberman said that the company looked "for the right killer idea," and found it with CP&B.
On its first assignment for Bing, the Colorado-based agency created a series of TV ads showing the search engine through the life of a user’s Facebook profile page. The point they’re getting across is simple: you trust your Facebook friends, and now they can help you decide where to eat dinner, what to buy at the store, and who to see in concert.
The quick turnaround of the campaign is leading some to believe that there is more than just excitement fueling the engines at Microsoft. Bing and Facebook rival Google is already making a space for itself in the customized search arena with the recent release of its "+1" button. Bing is likely trying to hold on to whatever edge it has with its new Facebook alliance and Google's well-documented weakness in the "social" realm.
