Update: Video is here.
I can’t guarantee these are authentic, but a tipster sent us these photos of what they say is a new television campaign by Ask.com that should be showing starting tonight.
This seems to be another provocative ad from Ask.com - it includes half-dressed women dancing with swords on some kind of stage. I’m not sure what, if anything, this has to do with the Ask search engine, but it certainly shows that the company is committed to seeing this campaign through.
I won’t comment until I see the whole ad myself. If anyone comes across it, please let us know.
Ask.com did not respond to a request for comment.
Well, Ask is just using the power of New Media Advertising…which mostly involves playing on the fact that geeks just love to see half-naked women dancing around. If you add swords to the mix, it is almost guaranteed to be a sensation. They should really YouTube it and then post it to Digg.
Half-dressed women….swords…Ask.com? I can’t wait to see how they tie it all together.
IAC must have “Ask’d” GoDaddy.com.
three words: crispin porter bogusky
Feels somewhat like the GoDaddy superbowl ad…
Now that you mention it…
What matters is I’m remembering all these commercials… and remembering Ask.com… where I don’t think I used it once last year. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
W
T
F
… and we certainly can’t wait till tonight to watch the actual thing!
That absolutely true.
It doesn’t really matter what the ads are about, what matters is that Ask has managed to take a brand that was flagging and transform it into a TC worthy property.
People like to be entertained, and people love to found new channels for entertainment. These ads provide users with what they want.
Mission Accomplished, Indeed.
Looks like the women are completely dressed to me.
Also, you said you wouldn’t comment until you’ve seen the commercial, but clearly but a slant on the video and make people have a preconceived notion by saying “half dressed women” in order to degrade a company you clearly do not like (conclusion came from looking at recent blog posts regarding ask).
Mike, why do you have such a negative tie towards Ask.com?
I think Don has a good point. The women are half dressed too, it all depends on how you look at em.
Don - can you really read my last post on Ask, and conclude that I don’t like the company?
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007.....ask-ask3d/
I like Ask. They’re an underdog. They have a crazy ad campaign, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like them.
Seems like it’s an intentional leak to me. No better then a Crunch Buzz to get you some free PR before the fact. Hmmm “crunchbuzz”. I like it! Registering now… I love when an idea comes together
Such a pessimist… I say the women are half UNdressed.
Really….what’s with the overdressed women? Bob Parsons call your office. I like Ask’s attitude definitely. But in the end, I just want results. The most relevant results and fast. I think the jazzy look and feel just makes the site more complicated. But what other options do they have to differentiate?
the Algorithm has nothing on Jeeves
Where is Crocodile Dundee!!!
The two “girls” (left middle picture) could use a touch up .. it’s sticking out there .. or is it a deliberate optical illusion ..
It just seems that the last couple of blog posts regarding their marketing campaign has irked either you or one of your fellow bloggers. There are many other online companies that do commercials and weird marketing schemes, though not many of them has received such attention like Ask has on this blog.
I have to go off topic a little bit and tell you that it’s fairly hard to remember that not all of the blog posts are your doing, Mike, seeing as how I started to read the blog long before the other authors came along. Sorry for the confusion.
It looks like they are really on a big promotion.
Ha ha. Our marketing campaign on Vertical Search Engine discussion panel is “Searching For the Next PussyCat Engine: Meow! Too Sexy For My UI”. Based on our field marketing survey on our flyer design using male and female model, majority prefer the flyer with female, requesting a more sexy female model.
It is better than Apple’s marketing campaign showing two guys.
Ask Well done! Another successful marketing campaign. It is always sexy to mix it up with music, dancing and female. Everything is eye-candy except they need to pick a better tune!
Notice the Ask.com ads exploding all over the internet today? Including sites like this and everyone that’s running AdSense…
“Hmmm “crunchbuzz”. I like it! Registering now… ”
why do i have a feeling nothing will ever come of this domain?
Just saw it in the commercials for America’s Got Talent (I know, I know). He sings “I got what I was looking for” as the background dancers sing “He got what he was looking for.” At the end it reveals that he went to ask.com looking for “chicks with swords.”
Ah, looks like I’m very late… and had to reveal that I was watching America’s Got Talent in the process. *sigh*
Mike,
Half dressed women? c’mon!
Perfectly alright ad..
What a hidious ad. Completely un-pursuasive.
Yahoo! Search spent millions on TV, Radio, and Print advertising four years ago to tout the new Yahoo! Search…but their horrible ads and bad marketing contributed to them losing more share to Google. TV is not the right medium to aquire search users - far from it. These Ask.com folks are making the same mistake allover…
Whoa, that’s cool.
georgespamungus@gmail.com
Hate the ad but love the shopping part of the new ASK interface
I personally (my 1 man self) would be a better PR agency then Ask.com’s
Looks like their trying (really pathetically) to copy the old “I found it on eBay” ads. Those were decent ads, but this one just doesn’t hit the mark.
Looks good
i just love that commercial there all so beautiful
I just saw the ad and the words used in the search box read “babes with blades”..if you do an actual search it comes up with a theater company in chicago that features the women you see on the ad….its pretty tame stuff, nothing to be alarmed and bothered about….but if you do a further search with “babe with blades” you will run into some real half naked women with swords, and that is where the concern should be, if you have a mind to be concerned about it.
Ask is giving what the market wants. sex.
http://www.benzeneinternational.com