Bing Marketing Dollars at Work: Farewell, Michael Jackson

June 29, 2009 at 4:46 am PT

Where is Microsoft (MSFT) spending its $100 million in marketing for its new Bing search service?

Well, here’s a photo that was forwarded to me showing an advertisement on top of a taxi in Manhattan of a goodbye message from Bing, as well as GE (GE) entertainment unit NBC, to the late pop legend, Michael Jackson.

It was a joint effort from Bing and NBC, said a Microsoft source. The software giant and NBC have a strong partnership surrounding the launch the search service.

Done by Show Media, which specializes in this form of advertising, the text–with a picture from Jackson’s “Thriller” album–reads: “We will miss you Michael.”

Presumably, enough of a condolence to get fans to search about him on Bing–instead of on Google (GOOG) or Yahoo (YHOO)–and get news updates from NBC’s many media outlets.

Jackson’s sudden death last week caused a massive surge of activity all over the Web, including at search engines.

Here’s the taxi-topper image (click on it to make it larger):

Tagged with: advertising, Bing, BoomTown, condolence, death, digital, entertainment, GE, Google, image, Internet, Kara Swisher, Manhattan, marketing, message, Michael Jackson, Microsoft, NBC, photo, search, Show Media, taxi, Thriller, topper, Yahoo

comments so far. Add yours.

http://www.kenokel.com/video.html Ken Okel

I think it’s a good move in terms of timeliness but I”m not sure how much the ads help raise awareness of Bing’s search potential when Michael Jackson’s death is being given wall to wall coverage.

I have liked the TV ads that suggest that Bing will help you cut through the clutter that can come with search engines.
http://www.geekculture.com/ Bruce Evans

ha ha .. the search engine Bing “will miss you”

Not the best thing when you are looking for hits. :P

Other than that, gag me with a spoon.
Todd Jonz

“We’ll miss you, Abe. Tickets are still available for ‘Our American Cousin’, now playing at the Ford Theater.”

Is there anything these crass pinheads won’t exploit?
JimmieBlake

This whole Michael Jackson death thing was used so much to raise all companies' popularity that it turned it into a fair where Michael Jackson was the mary-go-round. Viewing the business rating services go high because of it was plain wrong, they should find themselves other toys to play with.