Creepy Ask.com Commercials Not Helping (IACI)

Dan Frommer | December 2, 2008 11:20 AM

ask-commercial.jpgAsk.com's latest TV commercials -- weird people hanging limply on other people as they ask questions -- haven't won many fans. And they haven't helped IAC's (IACI) search engine's market share, which is down almost one-third year-over-year.

Below, we've embedded one of Ask's more recent spots, where a dead-looking woman drapes herself over a young lad. A similarly creepy ad, featuring a dead-looking guy, aired this past weekend, drawing jeers on Twitter:

  • "Ask.com, please revamp your ad campaign before my nausea and repulsion cause me to do something rash to my TV. Ugh."
  • "...seriously, why are the Ask.com TV commercials ... so..... bad.......???"

The ads would be fine, of course, if they were helping Ask.com's business. But according to Hitwise, they're not: Ask.com garnered 3.15% of U.S. Web searches during the week ending Nov. 29, down from 3.61% of searches a month ago and 4.52% of searches a year ago. (That's a 30% market share drop in a year.)

Usual disclaimers apply: This is just one metric from one source. (We'll keep an eye out for comScore's November search stats.) But it's not good news for Ask.com.

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14 Comments

What is it with Ask and advertising? First it was that ludicrous "Algorithm" campaign. Now this. Who is responsible for these things, and why hasn't he/she been fired?

That said: If there's one thing that has been demonstrated since the dawn of Internet time it's that TV advertising for web sites doesn't help much (especially for search). So maybe it's the TV buyer's boss who should be canned.
Chris said:
Henry/Dan - Totally disagree; while I'm not an avid Ask.com user, I do love the ads since they help differentiate the brand and fall in line with their new (or old, depending on your view) spin on Ask Jeeves. Personal favorite spot: Indian man hanging off the pregnant woman asking where he can find a bucket of fried chicken.
hehateme said:
Ask.com isn't a bad search enginge. But how do you break peoples Google and Wikipedia habit? Madison Avenue can make you change beers but not search engines. Why?
Indian man funny. But haven't seen that one in a long time. New ones very creepy.
Tailie said:
That 'woman' looks like Hurley from "Lost".
jim safka is an idiot said:
BAAAHAHAHA, Jim Safka what a bozo. He fancies himself as a marketing genius but is nothing but a poser that has no business running anything.

Peter Kafka (URL) said:
I like all these ads. I like the Indian guy and the German lady (it's funny when she talks about mustaches, right?) and all the others. I stop and watch them when they are on the TV. But it never occurs to me to use Ask.
Kim Williamson said:
Ask.com was great--back in 1998, when you could ask it a question and get an answer. Thus your butler Jeeves! 2008: An assortment of links that might, labor intensively, lead to one finding the answer oneself--that's Mike the next-door neighbor's gardener.
Carla Allen said:
I think these adds are so funny and I totally get them. The person on their back seems to be the one person they go to with questions and with the woman I assumed it was her Indian doctor. I love the way he says, "Can I eat eggs, clams and crablegs?!" It has become a joke between my husband and I, we say it all the time.
Peter Levitan (URL) said:
Yes, horrible ads. But, horrible because they provide NO reason to switch, check out Ask, etc. not action required at all.

There are so many tools available right now that can get action. From a bright use of social media to, um a bright idea.

Ask does not ask anything of the viewer. Don't ask, don't get.

And, yes, the client is at fault here.

Bob Gilbreath (URL) said:
A few months ago the brand said it was changing positioning to focus on Moms. This doesn't seem to be the case. As a challenger brand, you've got to do more than create nuttier TV commercials!

I've got some more analysis up at:

Marketing with Meaning
Avid Ask User said:
I am a faithful Ask user - never did get into Google - I find better search results with Ask. Also, even though the butler is gone, they still have the ask a question, get the answer functionality. Much better search than Google.
James said:
1. I agree, the commercials suck
2. I also agree, TV Commercials for web are ridiculous. That's like advertising for a TV show on the radio, or in a movie trailer (not that those haven't been done). Most consumers just won't cross-media, especially from old media to new.
Robert Wagner said:
Ask.com needs to stop worrying about advertising and fix their search engine. I go back and try ask every 6 months or so hoping to see improvement but instead I constantly come across outdated searches or pages that no longer exist. It seems once something gets into the ask search engine, it is never updated. I want accurate search results not outdated piles of trash. Update the engine or all of the commercials in the world won't give you users.

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