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A roller coaster of a year, all told, what with introducing a company-changing product (or two), some industry initiatives, and of course, some sort of Google thing. Plenty of great stuff to look back on. What sort of stuff, you might ask?
FEBRUARY
ASK CO-INTRODUCES SITEMAPS DISCOVERY
We got caught up in the robots.txt
revolution side-by-side with Yahoo! and the Google.
ASK UK "INFORMATION REVOLUTION" CAMPAIGN SHAKES UP "SLEEP SEARCHERS" IN THE UK
Ask UK and Fallon took it to the streets of London with a secret, then not-so-secret
viral campaign
that resulted in one million new users in three months.
ASK MOBILE WINS TWO WEBBYS
We scored the Webby
Award for best mobile site AND the People's Voice Webby in the Mobile category.
Doug Leeds' five-word acceptance speech: "San Dimas Highschool Football
RULES!"
ASK INTRODUCES ASK MOBILE GPS
The tangy wholesomeness of Ask Mobile met the great tastes of Citysearch, Evite,
and even a GPS service. Mobilicious.
JUNE
ASK3D LAUNCHES
Our big moment of
2007--swapping out our previous results page design with a three-column
triptych that nestles content
and media results right in next to the blue links.
AUGUST
SES 2007 SAN JOSE
For SES in our backyard, we came out in force, with multiple speakers, a big ol' booth, a Jim Lanzone keynote interview and a party where someone's arm got broken. Or sprained, I forget. I liveblogged SES SJ 2007, as did, oh, everyone else there.
SES 2007 San Jose Day One,
Two, Three.
ASK SCORES BIG IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
The University of Michigan gave us top marks in their American
Customer Satisfaction Index. Which ain't hay.
SEPTEMBER
ASK MAPS UK LAUNCHES
On the plus side, The entire UK can now take advantage of our 3D-ified
Maps & Directions. On the minus side, our London staff no longer has
an excuse to be late for work.
NEW ASK.COM TV ADS
Proof that if you have a good product, all you need to do is show
it at work. The Ron Popeil philosophy paid off with great response &
word-of-mouth.
NOVEMBER:
ASK & GOOGLE SIGN MULTI-YEAR DEAL
We
agreed to continue running Google Sponsored Listings on our network; in
return, we opened up a briefcase the size of a couch and told Google, "Fill
it." That's not how it happened but I like to think it was.
DECEMBER:
ASKERASER LAUNCHES
We announced our plans to do it back in July.
And in December, we
walked the walk and gave users control over their search privacy. A great
way to round out the year.
Thanks to everyone for their support this year, and stick around--you ain't seen nothin' yet.
Ken Grobe
Product Content Manager
Ask.com
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You didn't think we only did TV
commercials, did you? Currently burning up the airwaves (did I just mix
metaphors?) is the latest Ask.com radio campaign. As our Marketing department
puts it, they "compliment the TV effort," and if you haven't heard
the spots yet, here's my favorite:
Have you heard the spots? Do you like them? Drop a comment into this post and let us know.
Ken Grobe
Product Content Manager
Ask.com
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Ignorance is bliss.
If you get great search results, you don’t care why or how you got them.
But for more than 80% of searches, there can be more than one right answer. And even when there is one right answer, there’s more than one way of getting you there, understanding those results, or getting ideas for alternative searches. For these searches, the editorial voice of your search engine matters. Search isn’t the commodity it may, at times, seem to be.
In search, this voice is manifested in the form of an “algorithm,” a strange, funny, and--for most people--wholly unfamiliar term.
Many of you who read this blog already know what an algorithm is, and how it separates good searches from the better ones. But your friends probably don’t. Thanks to the work of the Ask marketing team and our new ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, however, that’s about to change.
You might know CPB for their superfun and standout ad campaigns for Volkswagen and Burger King (including my favorite, the Subservient Chicken viral).We've been working with them to create a campaign that champions "The Algorithm" and how it brings good search to life--from plain old “ten blue links” to popular, algorithm-driven features such as Smart Answers and Zoom related search.
No, the campaign won’t go into detail about how an algorithm actually works. We don’t want to make people’s heads explode. We just want them to know there’s something in there--think Intel Inside, Verizon’s Network, Dodge’s Hemi…heck, even VW’s Fahrvergnugen--that’s different and working to make search better for you.
You may have heard about our recent outdoor
ads, which kicked off the campaign with some teaser billboards about the
Algorithm. Soon, you'll start seeing our new TV spots in a
whole lot of places, from major networks to cable, from morning to prime time
to late night.
So ready or not world, here comes the Algorithm, soon to take its rightful place as a household word, once and for all.
--Greg Ott
VP, Marketing
Ask.com
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Before yesterday, we doubt many of you ever found yourselves asking this question unless you saw his name on a business card or listed as a speaker at a search conference. All that's changed thanks to the brand new Ask.com TV spots. Instead of people behaving like monkeys, or talking monkeys, you will see a highly evolved human, Apostolos Gerasoulis featured in our new TV commercials.
We know him as "A.G." He is the co-creator of our ExpertRank technology, and he is doing an on-air demo of how Ask's tools work. Check them out and let us know what you think.
Get to know more about Apostolos:
* All About A.G.
* Apostolos's Photo Album
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The latest Ask.com commercial has been running on TV for about week or so now. Maybe you've seen it? If not, you're in luck. Some folks wrote in, requesting that we post it on the blog and to tell them the name of the elusive song that plays during it.
We live to give.
The song is Sentimental Lady by Bob Welch. Very catchy. The commercial is right here.
Let us know what you think.
Please note: If you don't have it already, make sure to download the QuickTime Player.
You will not be able to view the TV spot without this player.
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