Rebranding campaigns are a tricky beast. On the one hand, it’s easy to go in with the mindset that you can’t do any worse than your past attempts. But if you want it to really be successful, you put everything you have out there and leave it all in the ring.
There’s not too much information about the new Microsoft search engine codenamed Kumo. But what Microsoft has on its plate will make it heavy to lift. Can anybody seriously imagine any search engine that could actually rival Google’s dominance?
For the most part, Google has made all the right decisions but it’s their philosophy that got them to where they are today. The CEO at my internship was regaling us with tales about how some people he recently met thought that Google was the Internet. That’s how successful the company has become. They’ve rolled out quality product after quality product and built up the value of their brand and name.
So really, what can Microsoft do?
Microsoft certainly can (and will) throw copious amounts of money to fix the problem. They’ve enlisted the help of JWT to handle the rebranding campaign of their to-be-named search engine and are going to spend $100M on it. That’s right, $100 Million Dollars.
Personally, I think Google will be Search Engine King for many, many years to come. I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to think that Microsoft can convert some users, but its greatest strength is its ubiquity. Consider this: every Windows-equipped computer after the launch of Kumo would have the search engine set as the browser homepage and perhaps even have some widget embedded in its desktop or plugin for other software. As I mentioned in my last Microsoft post, new users are such a key demographic. You get computer novices to use Kumo as soon as they unbox their computer and then suddenly Google will be foreign and Kumo will feel right.
It’ll be interesting to see what direction this rebranding campaign takes.
