Bing: "Google Caused the Recession"

...At least that's what I took away from the first Bing TV ad uncovered by AdAge today.

In my Search Insider column, #2 on my list of things Bing must do to catch up to Google was create memorable advertising. While this ad may check that box, I'm not sure it's in a good way. About all I can remember is that bad search engines are apparently the cause of the economic meltdown. That said, the high-pitched "bing" sound at the end stuck with me. And, ultimately, that's the only thing they need viewers to recall.

One thing I found particularly odd here was that they talked about "keywords" and "queries" as if they were 4-letter words. Let's not throw the babies out with the bathwater here, Bing. Remember you still need marketers to spend their money on your "keywords" and "queries" if you hope to recoup the $100 mil. you spent on advertising and the countless more millions spent on R&D for the product.

Here's the spot...



Update: Just caught the 2nd Bing TV spot and liked it much better. Check out the ad and my review on Good Commercial Bad Commercial.