I am sooo confused by this whole thing, and not in a piqued-my-interest sort of way. Just sort of mad, because they have pretty decent results, some interesting display stuff, and it looks like they are spending some serious money on a turd of a campaign.

We could all use more, not fewer, players in search. I think this campaign has more potential for squashing Ask, not growing it.

Maybe they’re working from the old standpoint of, “it doesn’t matter what people are saying, just so long as they’re talking about you” and, “any publicity is good publicity”. You’ve sort of helped that along by posting here. Sort of.

Despite the above, I agree that it’s just not smart. Vaguely reminiscent of that restaurant (in Taiwan?) that used Hitler and various Nazi images to promote itself. If I recall correctly, that restaurant went out of business… or at least had the sense to change their decor.

Addendum : I had some of the details wrong about that restaurant, but you get the idea. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/.....atery.html

I thought this one was even better, from a full page Ask.com ad in the Wall Street Journal: (I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea)

..and then there are words with more than one meaning. Take facial for instance. On one end of the spectrum, you have a mud mask. And on the other, well, those of you that brave using a search engine with the adult filter turned off know what we mean…

Of all the words that they could choose with more than one meaning, they chose facial???

Crispin Porter (the agency behind the campaign) is one of the hottest agencies . They were behind some of the biggest viral marketing successes of the past few years. Burger King’s Chicken, Got Milk etc…

Thier modus operandi is to get people to talk about thier ad campaigns no matter. Thats one of the reasons they used the swedish/german woman for the volkswagen (or was it volvo) commercials. People criticized the ad campaign then as well but it DID get people to talk about the brand/company.

I am not commenting on the taste of the campaign but I have to say that the “algorithm” campaign has been talked about over and over again in all the tech blogs. Its all pretty much bad publicity but hey is all publicity good publicity?

You’re right, Duncan.

Referencing someone who killed others is in terribly bad taste; I can’t believe top management would sign off on stuff like this…what if one of their family members or someone they knew had been killed by this wacko?

The ad they should be running instead; especially when using media like short attention span billboards; is:

Don’t know? Just Ask.com!

may be they are trying to catch google’s attention and may them think of acquiring ask with their 5% search market share?

I agree this is just designed to get people talking. It’s really one of the worst campaigns I’ve ever seen though. Oooh “the algorithm” how mysterious!!

datter
““it doesn’t matter what people are saying, just so long as they’re talking about you” is what I’m thinking, but it doesn’t make it right.

Well I guess they got the publicity they were looking for by being posted on Techcrunch.

Hey look at the bright side at least they didn’t put Osama in the Ad, now that would hurt a lot more sentiments. Not that this Ad doesn’t do it anyway.

Bottom line, what a bunch of morons!

I have to believe that this campaign is targeted to the technology elite. I believe Ask has two different campaigns set up at this time: one main stream on TV and the other geared towards people with a background in technology on the net/billboards. These campaigns clearly have started a discussion on websites like techcrunch and digg. Like others above, I too believe that discussion is something that Crispin wanted and needed to start. Google is so ingrained in everyone’s head it is hard to break free of its very large shadow. Is this a good start? I don’t know, but ask is trying very hard to be the renegade search engine. Time will tell.

This is sad waste of 100mil …. I wonder what cut the AD agency gets? 3% ?

*3 mil if they get 3% … then again it was probably a flat fee of 250k or so….

- the point, Forget web2.0 - 9.0 …. I’m getting into ad agency 1.0

I think this is a good campaign. Ask is spending some pretty bucks to get attention and to gain some numbers in the Search Engine market. Ok maybe the title of the campaign doesn’t sound good but maybe that is not the purpose. The PR and Marketing campaigns are dynamic and crazy and in these days you do not have to understand the message just take the steps.

I like Google but 2 thumbs up 4 Ask :)>-

What I do find extremely odd is when people say that Ask’s results are useful. Ask is the most biased, untrustworthy mainstream search engine I’ve tested. Their index isn’t very complete either. Why would anyone want to get skewed results?

Just try a search for “search engine” on all the mainstream ones.

Ask: http://www.ask.com/web?q=search+engine
Google: http://www.google.com/search?q=search+engine
MSN/Live: http://search.live.com/results.....rch+engine
Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=search+engine

Even MS and Yahoo display Google at or toward the top. Google itself returns relevant links related to search engines instead of just search companies. All Ask cares about is selling itself. Clearly, their grand “Algorithm” did not come up with those results based on quality.

Ask seems like just another IAC company trying to make a buck and be the “best” at the expense of objectivity and its users. There’s nothing wrong with that. They’re free to do so. However, they sure don’t have the standards Google (or even MS Live and Yahoo) does. It’s all marketing/sizzle, no steak.

If someone could provide some examples of how they’re a “better web search”, I’m open to anything and would like to know. I’m just calling it like I see it.

Terrible campaign. You don’t win your target audience’s hearts and minds by annoying them.

They don’t realize it’s not a PR problem–the damn product sucks.

Gosh.

If only PR could push their lazy robots to go index some pages.

As a technology marketer, I am always defending myself (and my peers) against attacks from techies who say marketers are stupid…this ad campaign has dealt a serious blow to my efforts.

Andy: “I think this is a good campaign. ”

” I like Google but 2 thumbs up 4 Ask”

FAIL.

Honestly, outside of techies and readers here, shouldn’t they define “Algorithm” for the average user

Well, I’m glad they’re giving the word “algorithm” its due publicity and out from the shadows of the dark, potato-chip-and-soda-ridden cubicle of a software developer (ok, maybe that’s only my cubicle).

Anyway, after the commercial, my wife turned to me and asked, “What’s an algorithm?” I’m sure its a sentiment felt by many a non-CS person.

If they did mention the VT shooter they’d get a LOT more attention for their money.

phugit must be psychic or we’re the same person.

Duncan–

Also check out the Ask a Ninja campaign that Ask did with us(Federated Media).

This has been a huge success, and it’s funny!

http://www.askaninja.com/node/3663

Search Ninjuice on Ask.com

Duncan, I have to look at that ad everyday when I wait for the bus. I wrote about it (the campaign) last week:
http://www.centernetworks.com/ask-com-goes-all-in

I guess let me pose this question (not to defend ask but for the sake of argument)…

What’s the difference btw that banner and the titles that bloggers write as well? Like mike’s about ppp yesterday? Hmm…

Geesh, people, the unabomber was anti-technology, remember? Poor taste aside, now do you all get it? Mentioning other “terrorists” would not be consistent with the message, such as it is.

I was just gonna say the same thing, AC. Good thing I read all the posts first. Remember folks, this is all about building the “buzz.” Putting something relatively obtuse on a billboard can have great impact provided it gets some tongues wagging.

The first thing I did was look up “what is the algorithm” in google. Finding no relevant results I gave up and moved on with the rest of my day.

Thanks a lot Ask.com!

Well, good/bad advertising that gets noticed still gets mind-share. If they only can relate algorithm to search…

But I agree, I think that the Crispin name is getting ahead of itself.

The geeks are the ones who started using Google. And the geeks are generally the ones who tell the rest of the world (family and friends) what they should use, or even better just set their browser search engine to google when they work on said family and friends computers. I can’t see why “The Algorithm” as a marketing stunt to try to get the geeks on board could be a bad thing. That is if “The Algorithm” is actually any good (better than google) at keeping the geeks around. Doubtful I guess. Off to Ask the Algorithm!

Ask is mainly doing two things:

1) Get people to talk about them. Even for the wrong reasons?
2) Position themselves as a company focused on technology (the algorithm).

Whether they’re getting back what they wanted is not for me to say.

Dude……

comedy = tragedy + time

Always the problem with advertising agencies - they are morally bankrupt! There is no line they will not cross and no depths to which they won’t stoop in order to get their message across. Whoope-do, another search engine… yeah we really need that.

Stick all the ad men in the ‘B Ark’ and send them all off into space.

Is it just me or does anyone think that maybe 10% of the population know what an algorithm is?

Tasteless and Useless. I have no idea what they are talking about and this PR Co seems to know very little about Internet PR. Build a better product and you don’t need advertising.

Well perhaps they’re getting what they want by getting people to talk about it (positive or negative) but what they want is not necessarily what is actually best for their business. My first reaction after I saw one of the ads was to google the phrase. I can imagine someone without a tech background searching on Google to find out what an algorithm is. So investing cash and have that go to a competitors advantage is kind of self defeating. It seems to me the people behind this are good at business strategies, but know jack about the search engine business. People don’t use a search engine because their friends have pages that are somehow easily accessible from the engine. People use it because the engine works, it’s useful. Whatever traffic they might gain right now because of this campaign, will most likely be lost when users get disappointed with the search results.

That is why computer wonks need public relations people: to thoroughly examine an ad for its possible downsides. In this case it appears that ASK failed miserably; they deserve all of the grief certain to come their way over this error in judgment.

The problem with the ad is that talking about it helps to accomplish its primary goal. As morally reprehensible as it is, the simple fact is that it got our attention and we will continue to spread it (because that’s what we as geeks do).

Eventually, it will get in front of the eyes of people who don’t see anything wrong with it and/or who will visit Ask.com out of sheer curiosity.

This may be one of the dumbest marketing campaigns in the history of marketing and it will surely make Business 2.0’s 100 dumbest moments in business for 2007. How the SVP of Marketing hasn’t been fired by now is beyond me!

RBA - you are correct, they’re out to achieve two things but fail miserably at both.

1) Get people to talk about them. Even for the wrong reasons?
- Techies who saw the original ads thought they were Google (amybe even MSN since they were blue) ads claiming their algo killed Jeeves (which it did). Non-techies didn’t know what the ads meant so they went to Google to query the phrase and found nothing (really smart move on Ask’s part). When both techies and non-techies found out the ads are for Ask they come to one conclusion - HOW DUMB - the ads practically promote Google!

Now that they’ve added branding and changed the colors to non-competitor colors people know they’re Ask ads but are still dumbfounded. Techies couldn’t give a $hit that the algo is from New Jersey (what does that mean to me) and non-techies don’t even know what an Algo is. Again, the impression is this company is DUMB.

2) Position themselves as a company focused on technology (the algorithm).
They’re positioning themselves as dumb. Techies aren’t impressed by algos and non-techies don’t even know what they are. They’ve finally added a micro-site and Google ads to help with this positioning - http://www.thealgorithm.com.

Final conclusion - DUMB - fire the VP of Marketing!

I agree with Duncan. It’s a low-ball, distasteful ad campaign with not a lot of strategic thinking behind it. Is this billboard only in the UK or has it made its way to US shores as well? The UK might not be as sensitive to the name, but I’m sure it still has some recognition. I think the intention is to grab the audience’s attention by placing “unabomber” in such large text and it is not a word/name used in everyday conversation. But the ramifications of such use could certainly make a really negative impact towards Ask.com’s attempt at growth in the search marketplace. It would be troubling if some of the large guys (Google, MS, Yahoo) ran an ad like this which would risk losing existing users, Ask.com goes further by driving users from even trying the search at all.

I also think their television ads, while not offensive, are very off-track. The humor is dry and the story is not compelling (i.e. “If I ran into a bear in the woods, I could look up what to do on Ask.com..etc, etc.”). Yawn. They suck.

While the advertising is poor, the search is pretty good in many areas. The ability to narrow/expand and some other unique features keep me trying out the service periodically. It would be better for Ask.com to leverage those features than the shock-value of a terrorist.

webonics - the billboard is in the usa along with the others… i see it on my bus stop every day.

and i guarantee you that at least 85% of the people on that busstop dont give a crap about an algorithm.

Freedom of speech and press. I guess you can write anything offensive on billboard. Not bad…

When I think of ‘the algorythm’ I can only think of Google - not Ask.

TECHCRUNCH IS FOR F*CKING IDIOTS.
by ASK.com

The three thoughts that the average consumer has after seeing any of the “algorithm” billboards. 1) “What is an algorithm?” 2) “What is this ad even trying to say?” 3) ——- There is no third thought, consumers don’t spend time trying to decrypt ads that: 1) don’t use language they understand 2) that don’t directly reference a service or product that they may be familiar with or that they feel they might have a use or need for. The question is, when are they going to pull the ripcord on this campaign?

ASK have same color as NAZI flag: red, black, and white. Dark vader is also askjeeves. He wears black.

Advice for ASK marketing –
Never put “HATE” on billboard.

That’s not right on any levels…smart marketing or not.

I think ASK have turn into corporate fascist.

If U.S government spotted that billboard. I guess they would ASK.COM to put it down. :p

Leave it to Crispin to completely phone this one in. “The Algorithm” may be the best example of a tech campaign thought up by a team of lazy Photoshop junkies. Here’s a piece of news guys–The Algorithm isn’t differentiating at all, in fact every single piece of software involves an algorithm.

The work Crispin did for BK was brilliant (Subservient Chicken, etc), but those employees have obviously left. This campaign is memorable in the same way that “Waterworld” was memorable.

Ask a ninja, ask the algorithm…

who are they going to ask next?

Does it matter as long as we all talk about it? The buzz created goes on.

If the ultimate goal is mass adaptation and market share, I think its a terrible campaign. Yes, its getting certain segments talking and annoyingly intrigued, but then what? What will this ultimately translate to? What is the fundamental objective to this?

Got Milk is a brilliant campaign from a creative standpoint, but at the end of the day are more people drinking milk? No. It’s the classic Pets.com sockpuppet, “i wish i was creative films not commercials”, advertising cluster$&@.

The campaign is so off the mark this is just another anchor on a sinking ship. Even the characters in their commercials look confused. Differentiation is key to a product’s success and utilizing a confusing concept makes Ask even less understandable. Further, even if I understood the value of the algorithm it would still be search engine trying to be everything to everyone. Why not offer a niche engine? For more thoughts on how I would market Ask.com: http://www.octopusonline.com/b.....oriti.html

Personally I think ALL OF YOU have GOT IT WRONG.

Its a brilliant campaign in its honesty to its position in the market. Its called Truth in Advertising. In their case, why even try to say anything else except that they’re dead in comparison to Google. They’re playing the simpathy vote and it may just work. Based on these comments, it doesn’t seem like people are too upset with the actual Ask.com brand. They’re more upset with the ad agency that created this offensive ads. This to me is a good thing. The brand is the consumer. And the consumer is offended. Good. Now the offended consumer fights back and starts reusing the product they still believe in.

The biggest irony is that 50 people commented on this in less than 8 hours on just one blog (myself included). In Crispin and Ask’s minds, we’re doing exactly what they wanted us (the “mindless” sheep) to do: talk about it, regardless the reasons…they’re the ones laughing right now.

Marketers are more brilliant than geeks give them credit for:

Geeks = Mozilla & Linux
Marketers = Internet Explorer & Windows

I’d rather have a billion dollars in my pocket with a chaffeur than driving around a Prius knowing that I created something nifty and neat-o.

The butler was their dope-smoking, threesome-having sybaritic conscience. Since he left it’s all gone down to Crazy Town.

To be sure, there are plenty of “safe, ethical” marketing applications of killers as portrayed in the media.

Why not make sure this ISN’T one of them before we pass judgment? Check trackbacks for more.

To elaborate, an “ethical” use of a mainstream killer is NOT parading him or her — or what s/he did — to sell products. But to mention a killer in the same way we might mention a threat to national security or a problem with the pedophiles who prey on children requires a different interpretation altogether.

I point to the fact that we should be able to distinguish between the two IN THIS INSTANCE before we vote “yea or nay” on Ask’s newest campaign.

I plan to check out ask.com after reading this post. It’s working…

I first saw this earlier this month on a billboard facing the West Side Highway in Manhattan. I still can’t figure it out.

That kind of campaign will put off a few people. Surely they could have up with a better campaign.

doesn’t tech crunch have better things to write about than your opinion of and ad campaign?

I think the campaign is great. Go to Europe and watch TV and commercials over there. They are not so “stick up my ass” about everything.

You don’t like it? Fuck you.

Stupid campaign … and some of this stuff is offensive. The ad agency should be fired ASAP.

If they want to generate traffic, why not have a billboard proclaiming: “We Support Genocide” or “Auschwitz and Darfur” with a smiley face.

Ask has lost their mind. Maybe they should try to find it in their algorithm.

Why does the unabomber hate the algorithm?

The idea is that if the unabomber hates something, then we all must like it, because we are not unabombers.

“Techcrunch hates the Algorithm.”

@62:

Dave, it was years ago so we’ve all forgotten. But the unabomber made media fame NOT because he sent bombs around. It’s scary, but it’s not what made him so popular.

The unabomber, or “university and airline bomber,” was a genius of sorts (Harvard undergrad, UMich Master’s and PhD) who HATED technology. More formally, he was an anarcho-primitivist.

So it follows that the unabomber would hate “the algorithm.” The implication is that the technology underpinning the Ask.com search engine is of such a scale that it would irk this world’s most famed anti-technologists.

And if someone were so compelled as to search Ask.com for “unabomber,” they would find his manifesto and in an instant understand the billboard’s meaning.

I elaborate at the Ch4tter blog. Find it in the trackbacks.

“…Al-go-rhy-thm” ugh what’s that. this sort of reminds me of the idiotic signs on CA hwys “clickit or tickit!”

Amusing how you attempt to cover your ass with the “compelling” stuff. Don’t want to upset the advertisers too much

Wake me up when they spend a comparable amount to improve their shitty product.

I think the idea here is to get people asking questions “what’s an algorithm?”, “why does the unabomber hate algorithm?”, “what was the story about unabomber anyway?”. And of course you talk with your friends about it and go to Ask.com to find out.

The unabomber was an insurgent, not a terrorist. Wake up, man!

Totally stupid ad. I saw the Jesus one in New York and had no idea what the product was…learned about it at TC…very poor. Duncan’s stock is going up in my eyes.

Hey Duncan,
The answer lies in your post…why did you cover it?! Well coz it piqued your interest…that’s what advertsing is all about, nobody cares if you understand it or not

Oddly enough I’ve never heard of the Unabomber (before my time I guess). So I Googled the word.

Opps my bad! I should have used Ask.com, but since I didn’t get that they were a search engine from the billboard, why would I?

Smarter advert execs would have followed this path (using the same example as above)

Who was the Unabomber? ask.com

What does a Sumatran Tiger look like? ask.com

Where can I see footage of the Moon landing? ask.com

you get the idea (I hope!)