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May 21, 2009
Ask.com Adopts Live Search's Hot Spot Photos, With Ad Twist
Last year, Microsoft's Live Search began adding large images to the homepage with various "hotspots" that, when clicked on, directed visitors to various searches. Now, Ask.com seems to be taking that approach, with a twist.
An advertising twist.
Today, at Ask.com is a large promotional image of the upcoming film, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. If you mouseover each character or actor, a name will pop up and you can click on it and be taken to a search.
For example, mouse over Amy Adams and her character "Amelia Earhart" will pop up. Click on it and be taken to the Ask.com results for "Amelia Earhart."
Ben Stiller is the star of the movie but his character is a fictional security guard. So, his pop up shows his character's name, "Larry Daley" but the search is for "Ben Stiller" instead.
One weird thing is that a couple of the names actually pop up out of the image frame. For such an advertising effort, that should be unacceptable.
Of course, cynics will criticize this move by Ask.com, deeming it cheesy or desperate. But it really isn't all that different from ads seen on non-search engines. Additionally, it's very similar to more traditional ad methods such as billboards (hello, Times Square!) or large ads in newspapers. We only have to look at the criticized yet successful Cashback program, again by Microsoft's Live Search, to know that the cynics aren't always right.
Instead, I think Ask.com might be on to something here. I often see Ask.com advertising on cable television's Discovery Channel, for example. It would be smart of them to engage in some sort of ad exchange where people driven to search Ask via a cable ad are then greeted with this new type of imaging featuring Discovery channel shows.
Search is overdue for some true innovation in advertising and it's good to see Ask (and Microsoft) attempting it.
That's my take. What's yours? Comments below.
Posted by Nathania Johnson on May 21, 2009 1:44 PM
Comments
The first thing that popped into my head was Myspace. Myspace will brand it's home and I think it looks cheesy. Just look back to why Google became what it is today, it was because of an utterly simple homepage design. I think this move by ask will turn off users. It's also a distraction!
Bid Management May 21, 2009 3:32 PM
The last thing I want when I'm trying to make a simple web search is to wait for a full page image to load. It seems that while google is making changes to try and reduce the amount of clicks and clutter between me and my destination, sites like ask are willing to sell out like this and make themselves worse alternatives.
Besides that, why would anyone want to assosiate their homepage or brand with crappy forgettable movies? Hotspot clicking is neat, but nobody opens up a search box with the intent of spinning off on a tangent about amelia earhart, I mean really.
Wes May 21, 2009 5:44 PM
My beef? I get no "search" box, just the full-screen wallpaper. I'll assume it's my fault (I run Firefox, but have insufficient geek blood to know what setting is wrong)...but effectively ask.com is offline for me.
Daniel May 22, 2009 10:32 PM
