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Will B-I-N-G-O-O be its Name-O?

A Microsoft/Yahoo Search Deal is Inevitable, But What Will We Call the Combo?

Tuesday, July 21, 2009 | Posted by Aaron Goldman

Posted In: Press / Press Mentions / Search Engine Marketing

Today Yahoo announced that Q2 earnings were up slightly year-over-year but revenue was down (as was the stock in after-hours trading) leading to a reprise of speculation over a potential search deal with Microsoft.

MediaPost has a good roundup of opinions, including mine, on what the deal might look like and what it would mean for the marketplace.

Here's what I went on record with. More commentary after the break...
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Aaron Goldman, managing partner at advertising rep firm Connectual, thinks the "deal is inevitable."

Goldman says Yahoo has always been innovative in its approach to display with behavioral targeting and exchanges. But aside from a few nice products like Search Monkey, BOSS, and RAIS, Yahoo's search offering has been pretty stagnant. Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz has publically declared many times Yahoo is not a search company.

"Microsoft has done a great job recently developing new search technologies, such as the Bing launch and adCenter before that," Goldman says. "A Microhoo search platform would establish a serious long-term competitor to Google in search and bring much-needed scale to behavioral and retargeting programs."
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Buying Yahoo's search assets was number five on my list of Ten Things Bing Must do to Catch Google. I really see it as the only way Bing can gain significant share. Even with all the launch promotions and advertising support, Bing is just inching along, eeking out a 0.4% increase in query share in June per comScore.

Number one on the to-do list (mind you, these were not in order of importance) was to create a catchy slogan, which Bing may do yet with its recent jingle contest on YouTube. For what it's worth, I offered up the following slogans in a recent Search Insider column -- The Many Flavors of Search -- along with these suggestions for better ads, which was number two on my list, btw. 

"Personally, I'd have created different spots focusing on each vertical in which it trumps Google -- travel, shopping, health, etc. -- and show the features (eg, Farecast, Cashback, Medstory) in action, before bringing it home with slogans like 'Travel Better with Bing,' 'Shop Better with Bing,' or 'Get Better with Bing.'

As for the name of the combined assets, often referred to as Microhoo, I sincerely hope they don't change the name from Bing. It's so versatile. In fact, not changing the name was number three on my list. So, as fun as Bingoo might be, don't expect any searchery rhymes to emerge from this transaction.