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Ask Jeeves brings back the butler

Search engine Ask is reverting to its original name, Ask Jeeves, as it reintroduces the iconic fictional butler into its corporate branding.

Jeeves was dropped from the brand in 2006 as the search engine began a series of facelifts aimed at increasing market share and gaining on Google.

At the time there was a brief campaign from users to have him reinstated.

Ask says the return of the valet, based on a character created by PG Wodehouse, is in response to “user demand”.

Managing director Cesar Mascaraque denied the rethink was a last-ditch effort to gain ground on market leader Google.

“We have seen a growth of 20% this year, so we are not struggling,” he said.

“We have been focused on developing an outstanding producer that will deliver outstanding results and Jeeves is just the icing on the cake.

“Our aim is to give our users the answers they need for the lives they lead and Jeeves’s role is to give our users answers in a more human way.”

But Peter Matthews, manager of the brand and digital consultancy Nucleus, said Ask needed to put some clear blue water between itself and Google.

“Ask is struggling, as all search engines other than Google are,” he said.

“With Google, you get 90% of the market, so the other search engines – Yahoo, MSN, AOL, Ask to name but a few – are all trying to grab a share of the remaining 10%.”

The search engine has been through a series of rebrands, including a TV advertising campaign portraying it as an underground alternative to Google.

In the autumn of 2008 it had another makeover, this time branding itself as the search engine that could best answer specific questions.

Mr Matthews added: “Ask Jeeves was quite a strong brand, in the sense it had brand values that were different from everyone else.

“Ask without Jeeves lacked character and while the actual product – searching the web – is very effective, in trying to be more like Google they shot themselves in the foot.

“The opportunity for Jeeves would be to get the site to be used as it was first intended – not by putting in a few key words, but by asking it a proper question.

“Not only have they got a brand issue, but they need to be famous for answering questions rather than producing reams of search results.”

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Microsoft bribes users to use Live Search

How do you win in the search engine wars? Two approaches suggest themselves: 1) build a better search engine or 2) bribe users. Microsoft is trying option two in hopes of gathering enough data to make option one a reality.

Microsoft sent out an e-mail to Hotmail users this week, asking them to participate in the “Live Search Trial Program.” The program rewards users with “tickets” every time they use Live Search to find something, which can then be redeemed for prizes later on. These prizes include everything from t-shirts to video games, and the promo will extend through February of next year.

The promotion isn’t just to bring in new users, but also to help Microsoft test things out and get feedback. The prizes will ultimately help the company improve the search experience, a Microsoft spokesperson told MarketWatch, which in turn will “improve our understanding of the types of searches users perform each day and the search engines they utilize.”

Microsoft revamped its Live Search in late September, quadrupling its index size. The company also made a number of tweaks to the the search engine’s query algorithms, results page, and the way it analyzes clickstream data. The changes were significant and welcome to regular users, but didn’t offer much that was innovative when compared to the competition. If anything, they brought Live Search more in line with features that were already offered by search giant Google.

The promotion suggests that Microsoft is still in search of a sizable user base from which to get feedback data. This is also not the first time Microsoft has tried such a promotion. When it launched a similar effort earlier this year, the company managed to increase its share of the search market to 13.3 percent, according to Nielsen numbers. It has since dipped again in recent months, however, and continues to place a distant third after Yahoo and Google.

Prizes may help in increasing small levels of market share, but Microsoft won’t be able to overtake the big dogs unless it launches something truly unique that will be able to set Live Search apart from the rest.

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