Ever been following your favorite team, it’s late in the year and they’re way ahead in the standings? They could cruise the rest of the way and be just fine. Then they have small hiccup, nothing major. But suddenly, they stress out and tense up. They start to think of how embarrassing it would be [...]
Ever been following your favorite team, it’s late in the year and they’re way ahead in the standings? They could cruise the rest of the way and be just fine. Then they have small hiccup, nothing major. But suddenly, they stress out and tense up. They start to think of how embarrassing it would be to blow such a large lead. In fact, they become consumed by the thought of it. Ultimately, the team that has nothing to worry about is tenser than anyone else. Finally, they collapse, all stemming from the pressure of not having any pressure.
(Let’s pause here while Met fans violently smash the palm of their hand into their forehead…ok, moving on.)
Is this type of epic collapse possible in the world of search? Over the last year, we’ve seen the launch of Bing (and over $100M to advertise it) accompanied by a partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo. The Search Engine Wars haven’t been this intense since Dogpile took a dump on the Hotbot. But let’s be honest, there still isn’t much of a fight here. Google still owns nearly three quarters of the market share in search. They are just cruising along, way ahead of the pack…right?
Google’s initial reaction to Bing was stoic. They ignored it. Brushed it off like a flea. Lately, however, we have seen cracks in their armor. On Super Bowl Sunday many of us saw our first Google television commercial. Half of my Super Bowl party thought the commercial was “just so adorable.” But the other half turned to one another and simply said “Why bother?” The only logical answer I had (as the in-house Search Man) was that they must be feeling the pressure of Bing. To which half the room asked “What’s a ‘bing?’” (If you’re doing the math, yes, I had three halves at my Super Bowl party).
When asked why they launched the ad, Google’s response was something along the lines of, “We dunno…just sorta happened.” It just happened? That’s not a marketing strategy. That’s an excuse you use after one too many sake bombs. There had to be more motivation behind the ad than that. Google’s smarter than that.
Did Google meet this guy the night before the Super Bowl?
Google’s follow up was an attempt to penetrate the social networking world with Google Buzz. (A product appealing to the demographic that has not yet heard of Facebook.) Google Buzz has seen its fair share of hiccups since its debut. The problems began literally with its inception. Google decided it would be a good idea to automatically “connect” you with people in your inbox, whether you liked them or not. This did not always go well. In one extreme case, a battered wife was reconnected with her abusive ex-husband. On a more common level it was simply annoying and invasive. Suddenly, this product that nobody was asking for was connecting you to people you didn’t want to talk to in the first place. Other privacy issues emerged in the interface of Buzz as certain email information was posted publicly. Google profiles are being erased if people choose to turn off Buzz. The option to sync Buzz up to certain websites, such as Twitter is sluggish at best. It’s hardly the standard expected from a company that dominates its competitive market. Hell, even the name was stolen from Yahoo!.
Simply put, Buzz was rushed. And this wasn’t just a throw-away test product. This was Google breaking into a whole new platform. People expect innovation from a dominant market leader, not cheap imitations.
Buzz may have just been a small hiccup for Google, but sometimes that’s all it takes when the pressure of having no pressure gets to you.
Tags: Google, Google Buzz, Super Bowl
