Twitter and blogs are all a buzz about Bing, Microsoft's new search engine (aka Kumo for project/product name genealogists).

I'm no search engine expert, and haven't got any inside track until, like the rest of the public, we can get our hands on the Bing search engine. So I'll defer to more knowledgeable sources to discuss the merits, or otherwise, of the technology.

As a marketer it is interesting to consider the approach exposed to date and what is likely to roll out over the next few weeks and months. SearchEngineLand has some inside information on Bing's upcoming $80m advertising campaign, others like Todd Bishop discuss the strategy.

Personally, and purely from looking at the video and available screen shots of the site:

I like:

• The decision to adopt a distinct, non-Windows/MSN/Live family name.
• Ditto the distinctly non-Windows/MSN/Live family logo. The actual name chosen and the actual logo aren't really the issue for me. They just need to be 'fit for purpose'. The logo doesn't look anything particularly special (or particularly bad). Why these two items just need to be 'fit for purpose' I'll come to.
• Ditto the positioning of the site to help decision making. Apparently, it's a decision engine, not search engine. Which pragmatically sidesteps the confrontational 'better mousetrap' issue with the dominant force in search.
• Glimpses of the UI look more than usually clean, open and typographically led for Microsoft.

I don't like:

• The US centric video. Come on.. searching downtown Bellevue, domestic US references? Think global. There's a whole world of us out here, you know... (but that is small change in the greater scheme of a campaign on this scale).

For me, the entirely parochial and personal acid test for whether or not a technology or a brand has gone mainstream, is whether I can chat about it to other parents at the school pick up, without needing to explain myself about why I, and the other dweebs in techland, are getting excited about dweeb.com or whatever. So, by that measure, Twitter only just made it about a month back. Live Search always drew a blank look.

For Bing to breakthrough in these terms will take a lot more than $80 million of advertising.

It needs to have the basics in situ, first. The basics are a name and a logo that is for fit for purpose (done). 

Then secondly, it'll need a billion dollars (or ten) of positive Word of Mouth - 99.9 per cent of which will be driven by the experience, not the marketing.

While I'm certain viral and social media figure on the Bing campaign plan, with strategies to accelerate and amplify this effect, what I'm really driving at is, the service needs to deliver to consumers. That will determine Bing's success. Not the opinions of a million brand / advertising experts over the next week or two as Microsoft rolls out the launch campaign.

If the service delivers, it will be Word of Mouth that can determine whether or not Bing will make a serious dent in those market share figures for search.

Tags: Bing, Microsoft, search engine

Disclosure: Microsoft is a client but as you can tell from my tone, not this division. No inside track here.