It’s Friday night in London. You’re out on the town with some friends at the local pub, drinking some beers and the call of nature beckons. Making your way to the restroom you’re confronted with advertising that tells you that 75% of online information goes through one company. On the other side of the Pond, a soccer mom makes her way along the New Jersey Turnpike, passing a sign that reads “The Algorithm is from New Jersey”. Of course whilst the first example begs the question “are they taking the piss?”, both have been exposed to the latest viral advertising campaign from the IAC owned Ask.com.
There’s no official word on how much the Crispin, Porter + Bogusky designed campaign costs, but it would be fair to presume that it’s not small change: Algorithm and “Information Revolution” advertising has been spotted on both sides of the United States and throughout the United Kingdom. But is it working?
The numbers would suggest that it isn’t.
Despite the big spend, the campaign has been too clever by half. Does the average internet user even know what an algorithm is, or more importantly even care? Do pub goers in the United Kingdom care that Google controls over 75% of search in that country?
If the Algorithm constantly finds Jesus, why can’t it find increased market share?
To be a little fairer to Ask though, the comScore traffic figures only cover the period to the end of March, the campaign was rolled out in February and into early March, and things look a little brighter in April according to Alexa:
More recently Ask has announced its intention to expand the campaign to television. Greg Ott, Ask.com’s VP of Marketing writes after making the announcement that the company wants people to think of the Algorithm in the same way people think of “Intel Inside”. And yet it still doesn’t find traction for me. Perhaps I’ve been around too long and still yearn for the days of Jeeves when you visited Askjeeves.com if you had a question you needed answered, instead of Yahoo! Answers.
There’s one thing that I’ve always considered Ask to have going for it, ask.com as a URL, 3 letters, easy to remember…indeed the simplicity and marketing potential of the name was one of the reasons given when Jeeves was dropped, and yet not one advertisement drives home the name. If a tree falls down in the woods and no one is around to hear it- does it make a sound can be equally applied to Ask: if a search engine does a viral marketing campaign and no one understands it, does it make a difference?
Photo credit: Hessam on Flickr.
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We had someone from higher up at Crispin Porter Bogusky as a speaker in our media plan class.
I asked her at the end what CPB’s doing with Ask. Her jumbled response gave me the idea that they are in the starting phases as far their Ask strategy goes. Just running bold experiments and trying to figure out what sticks–so what if it confuses the crap out of everyone:)
ASK has just changed their Search Relevancy Algorithms - after literally YEARS…YEARS of using the same algos….
Many smaller sites will now see traffic from ASK as they have become less focused on Expert Rank - they appear to be factoring in more backlinks democratically
Their new algos are now similar to the way Google’s was around 2004
It appears likely that sooner of later they will be acquired by MSN or Yahoo to enhance their base
Leave it up to Crispin Porter Bogusky to come up with such a strange campaign. They’re the same company that created the creepy Burger King mascot that woke up next to the man in bed:
http://www.cpbgroup.com/src/bu.....lcrois.mov
How about this billboard along 101 North as you cross San Carlos?
http://farm1.static.flickr.com.....1b64ed.jpg
If you’re too lazy to click, it’s another one, this one saying “The unabomber hates the algorithm”…
The thing here is that even geeks don’t get it.
Just tried ASK, it has been a while. Did not like the results I got compared to Google and there is a huge amount of sponsored links above and below the results which I hate.
So won’t be using them again.
Duncan, as you’re a “New Media Developer residing in the South West Corner of Western Australia” with a new gig on TechCrunch, you won’t have seen the “viral” ads on British TV here. These are equally obscure, and ask us all to join the ‘information revolution’ against the ‘Stalinesque’ Google. I’d agree that Ask.com is their best asset yet they refuse to use it. Even in the UK, people recognised the Ask Jeeves butler better, as that branding had run the longest.
I couldn’t even figure out what you were talking about until about half-way through the article. You never directly mention what you’re talking about until the 3rd paragraph. Please, learn how to write a column!
John
irony is obviously a lost point on you given that the post was about a lost message….and Ask is mentioned at the end of the 1st paragraph.
to be fair to crispin, porter & bogusky, they have a major challenge in trying to prop up an also ran search brand into a player against the most dominant technology company today.
i looked at Ask for the first time in years in order to better comment. it actually has some cool aspects that i would have otherwise not known about except for their new campaign and the cooresponding publicity it is generating. the Ask homepage offers the ability to break down the search into type of content you are looking for: web, images, blogs & feeds to name a few. i tried a few results, and the results seem ok. much fewer returned results than google or yahoo! for better or worse.
I agree with 5 that they do have too many sponsored links. since i use google for mail, adwords, etc., google has stickiness that would make it hard for me to switch over to ask. as well, technorati is my preferred search engine for blog results.
i do the 101 san jose - sf shuffle once a week, and the ask billboards are one of the few that are memorable due to their “what the f?” factor. at least this massively confusing campaign is creating buzz. a mention in TC can’t hurt their chances in this near impossible battle against giants. the challenge to gain market share is going to be extremely tough considering the competition.
Please …. no references from Terry Pratchett or Discworld … If a tree falls in the middle of the woods it makes noise… whether you wanna listen to it or wait for someone to Yell “Tiiiiiiimmmmbbbbbbberrrrrr ….” until the damn thing hits you on the noggin is up to you really….
I was just in SF and saw one of these billboards along 101 north, was planning on looking it up when I got back to the hotel but kept forgetting.
Anyhoo, now I know.
By the way, the campaign got a mention on TC, so at least the word is getting out.
I think it is a pretty pants campaign and it isn’t working in the UK. They need to change things quickly, even borrowing a leaf from the apple comparison ads which are working very well over here. We do need more competition in search, I don’t like the idea that google has their fingers in every pie out there it makes me edgy.
Their algorithm is virtually the same as every other search engines, they still analyse the link structure to rank results.
Until they do something different that dramatically improves their results (like letting users rank them al la http://www.tallstreet.com/ ) why should anyone care?
What about a Google Adwords campaign for Ask?
If I were Google, I gave them some free money to spend…
I walk past a huge Ask billboard on the way to work… and have seen the television adverts. If you ask me its slightly cheesy and looks about as “revolutionary” as Woolfy (a character from a UK tv comedy series in the 70’s who used the mantra “power to the people”).
In summary, a great concept… but poorly executed.
I wouldn’t really know, never been to a bar to take a piss.
Maybe I should and see if I “get” the campaign.
Heard Ask ad on the radio the other day. It was so desparate, like a drowning man cry for help. Sad………..
Out of curiosity, why are your articles double the size of what is usually on TechCrunch? Are they special features or something?
They’re long.
Just a note: “begs the question” does not mean “raises the question”
It means uses circular logic.
I don’t mean to sound nitpicky, but I’m reading more and more published content online and I’ve seen this mistake frequently. I’d hate for it to continue to proliferate.
I think that even with the 3 digit URL, dropping Jeeves was a mistake. Their little mascot was the only thing they had that “branded” them, which was a major accomplishment in search back then. Just because your model: ask a question, get an answer - seems simple doesn’t mean it’s bad.
This mornings frontpage is downright blinding. I went to ask.com to take a gander and immediately turned away. Nice idea. Terrible result.
Suggestion to ASK: Instead of wasting money advertising a crap service, spend some improving it. Get your crawlers to do extra job crawling more of the internet than google. One reason google is on top is it’s ability to crawl and index more of the web quickly.
Most internet users now a days own a website and for them getting indexed is a matter of fame. They will certainly stick to engines that index their site faster rather than playing untouchables. Ask has got to worst crawler and it’s crawlers never index new sites unless untill they are a good 1 or 2 years old. Simple reason they don’t send enough traffic to websites.
Webmasters hate Ask cause of poor indexing
Surfers hate Ask cause of poor indexing
30% surfers are going to be webmasters of tomorrow as technology developers. In the future owning a website is going to be mandatory and may be even an identity as a world citizen. Given this, search engines better start increasing their database and start indexing more.
More Index, Faster Index = More customers
So ASK, go ASK your Algo team to do a better job.
Word I hear from folks that have worked with them is that CPB is a little too full of themselves to make effective ads that drive customer growth for Internet companies and won’t accept client input.
Seems like another example of that.
The algorithm is working well: TC writes about it, longer than the normal and we know about it even we haven’t seen the ads.
Well said Mukesh.
Look, I work in digital marketing/sales. Have so for 10 years. I’d like to think I’m good at it and get it. Point is I saw 3 or 4 of these billboards in LA last week and had NO IDEA what they were for. Until I read this blog now. My gut says the campaign is a tad to savvy for ANYONE. I have no desire to use ASK right now either.
Dumb it down just a bit guys…
The algorithm is working well: TC writes nike shoes about it, longer than the normal and we know about it even we haven’t seen the ads.
Hey, they snagged my interest. But when I found out what it was, I was disappointed!
What’s This Algorithm Stuff About Then?
The Algorithm Is Ask.com!
The marketing campaign is clearly working. Whether Ask can retain users is another questiion.
The ads are not making me switch engines. Ask needs to remove a few sponsored links before I use them.
As much as I like Google’s search, I would like to see another strong competitor to them. Yahoo’s search results are actually quite good (and I like a lot of their other properties) but they currently have second place stigma associated with them right now. It’s a shame because a lot of what Google has done has been following the Yahoo gameplan.
I’m not sure Ask will ever be able to really make a serious run at Google either. Even if they double their marketshare, they’d still be a small fraction of Google’s marketshare and less than half of Yahoo’s.
I sometimes wonder if the best way to compete with Google on the search front would be to redesign and streamline one of the ‘old’ search engines that once had some old-school street cred like AltaVista (which Yahoo owns) and try to promote them as just a pure search alternative to Google. Minimal advertising, little or no personalization (promote it from a privacy standpoint) - just pure, simple search.
How about “Want answers? Just Ask.com!” How hard is it to mismarket a search engine that is already a verb?
I have no idea what this algorithm crap is supposed to mean. I understand algorithms but I don’t get the anthropomorphization here. And don’t get me started about their television commercials featuring the guy mumbling in a thick accent about pimping his ride (which I know only because he typed it).
Ask is clearly in trouble.
It’s just another example of an ad campaign that got too creative. There’s a bill board on my way to work that reads “the algorithm is from Jersey.” Yes, it makes me curious for a few seconds, but then I forget about it and no longer care. They could at least put the site on the sign or something. Hey, here’s a thought, maybe tell me why I should care about their algorithm.
GJ
http://www.60in3.com
Ask is a long-shot search engine right now. They should use social search.
Anyways, advertising campaign is too cryptic…Why do we care if Google handles most of the search?
In just 4 words; the only ad IAC will ever need to get the results they’re looking for:
“Don’t know? Just Ask.com!”
not a bad article… but i don’t think you really know what viral means.
I was taken by the ads and thought ASK.com has really improved. Went to Ask.com and did a search only to find the same old crap, junk, stinking old results. Why did you spend so much on Ads ASK? May I Ask?
If you mean viral as in “as annoying as getting a cold” then yes, the ad. campaign is viral. Otherwise, I fail to see whats so viral about this.
Hey dude, you wont believe which ad. I peed on today.. you HAVE to go take a leak in this restroom just so you can check out the ad.
The 3-letter domain name is completely irrelevant. I do my Google searches using my browser’s search widget, and so do many other people. I haven’t typed “google.com” for a search in… well, can’t remember when the last time was. It could be called supercalifragilisticexpialadocious.com for all I care.
I don’t intend on switching over to Ask regardless of how popular their viral marketing campaign is. It is all about usability.
Yeah, I saw the “the algorythm always finds jesus” going into new york city…I thought it was catchy but had *no idea* what the hell it was for. Maybe too clever for their own good - always mention the name
Totally agree about the value of the ask.com url and the word Ask. That word should be up there, filling up a billboard in the biggest possible letters.
I think the algorithm always finds jesus advertisement is just confusing. I think these are an example of ads that most people won’t get. I agree they should simply play on the three letter url.
there is no such thing as too clever. people - you need to stop not thinking about advertising techniques.
they have been around for quite sometime. they should have databases of information through their years of collection to give better search result…
From the text you quoted, I actually thought the ads were for google…
The fact is you’re all talking about it. Clearly, the messaging hasn’t fallen flat because it’s got us all wondering what the f**k it’s there for in the first place. Raising awareness and interest may have been their primary objective here–not necessarily converting us google junkies to ask.com.
I, for one, am once again, pleased with CP+B’s creative, not to mention Ask.com’s marketing guts. Not a lot of clients out there are open to having fun with the launch of a new product or the rebirth of an old one. So, cheers fellas. Thanks for making my commute less of a nightmare and more of an entertaining and intellectually stimulating experience.
I would consider myself to fall in the reasonably techincally savvy. I’m no programmer, I don’t live anywhere near Silicon Vally, but I do “understand” the Web 2.0 jargonology. However, if someone could please explain to me what these advertisements actually mean I would be eternally grateful…. If I don’t get it I doubt the non-tech Joe Public’s don’t either
WTF are they selling?
I agree with 5 that they do have too many sponsored links. since i use google for mail, adwords, etc., google has stickiness that would make it hard for me to switch over to ask. as well, technorati is my preferred search engine for blog results.
That’s great but why don’t you check out http://www.fashionflashion.com
That’s great but why don’t you check out http://www.fashionflashin.com