Russell Beattie

Have you seen Ask.com's TV spots? They're awesome - for a few reasons... first, they give Google a good jab which is nice to see, but more importantly they do something that I've wanted to see in advertising for a long time: A basic product demo. Simply showing how to do certain tasks rather than some sort of touchy-feely message or silly branding thing. Apple figured this out first with the original iPhone commercials, and I love the fact that other tech companies are following in those footsteps.

I also think it's great that IAC realized what morons they were being with those "the algorithm" spots which were generally stupid as well as disingenuous, as we all know that Google pioneered the type of search algorithm we all use now. These news Ask ads instead are great and just show that using Ask to do your search provides you with more types of results in various categories. Perfect. And unlike a lot of other ads you might get tired of, these ads being in heavy rotation is great as you learn more and more about the service each time you see it.

I think it's sort of ironic that I used Google to look up the URL to Ask.com's commercials without even thinking about it, which shows how much of an uphill battle Ask really has to get users to switch. But still someone has to go after Google, and besides just laying out massive cash needed to be the default search provider in new PCs and browsers like Firefox and Opera, this is the only way that I can really think about doing it and having any chance.

We'll have to see if these guys start to get a bump in search traffic percentage over the next few months - I'd love to see their efforts rewarded.

-Russ