There's a lot to be said about the fear of change. Barack Obama recently described some people's reluctance to his healthcare plan in these terms: "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't."
It may not have been the most politically savvy move to compare his healthcare proposal to anything having to do with the devil, but he got his point across nonetheless.
That same problem seems to follow Microsoft and its search products, regardless of the changes introduced by the software giant over time.
A usability and consumer preference study by the Catalyst Group concludes that even if Bing proves to be as good as Google, it might not matter because of the strength of Google's brand, TechCrunch reports.
All in all, two-thirds of focus group used by the firm said they mostly preferred Google due to familiarity and that Bing's improvements simply are not enough to make them jump ship.
Microsoft "created something as good as Google and that is not good enough," Catalyst CEO Nick Gould said.
This might help explain why Microsoft is spending $100 million to market Bing to the masses.
Archive for June, 2009
Brand loyalty or fear of change?
Is it possible to make meaningful brand connections with Generation Y?
It's hard to achieve brand loyalty with any generation, but especially with Millennials. I'm sure that I don't need to make the case for why creating brand loyalists is important, but two essential reasons boil down to: 1) If you create loyalists when they're young, your sales trajectory and pass-along has a longer lifespan; 2) As anyone reading up on modern brand building probably already knows, the power of one passionate consumer combined with spiffy amplification tools (social media) can translate into thousands more customers hearing about your brand based on recommendation. Still, pervasive noise in our culture makes this much harder to achieve and "experts" tell us we've engendered a highly fickle batch of individuals – drug of choice? Choice. Like every generation in turn, Gen Y is increasingly distracted. The New York Times, Business Week and New York magazine all devoted articles within the past few weeks to our national attention deficit: the un-doings caused by multi-tasking in manifest digital forms, and the resulting shift advertisers must take toward leveraging social media influencers. Maybe you don't remember the good old days - when people shopped by brand, and purchase decisions were driven by the long-term brand capital that premium... Read more
Yahoo's new look isn't very new at all
I'm no visual expert, but I sure hope Yahoo has bigger plans for its site redesign. The beta for Yahoo's revamped homepage definitely doesn't pack the punch that Yahoo should be going after with its new look and feel.
After languishing and getting beat up by stockholders and the press for this long, I hoped Yahoo would aim for something bigger. Sure the new icons are a little better and the site is cleaner, but it doesn't scream "we're finally ready to take on Google!"
Since the still in beta and Yahoo has reportedly pushed the site's official re-launch back to the fall, there's still time for the online media giant to make that great second impression it so badly needs.
Yahoo's stock prices have gone up slightly since the dismal days of last summer and some confidence seems to be restored, but Yahoo would be wise to use this opportunity to break the mold it has squeezed itself into.
Do a side-by-side comparison of the beta homepage and the current homepage and tell us what you think.
