Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, is bravely taking on the challenge of battling its biggest rival.

The multimillion-pound campaign, ‘Bing and Decide’, portrays Microsoft’s search engine as a ‘decision engine’ in juxtaposition to the information overload a Google search inflicts on its users, the Guardian reports.

Ashely Highfield, managing director and vice-president of consumer and online at Microsoft UK, made a reference to David and Goliath as he described Microsoft “taking out their slingshots” and preparing for battle.

The mythological reference is certainly not an overstatement – Microsoft’s current hold of the search market is about 3% against Google’s 90%.

Highfield said: “We are in a world where people have forgotten there is an alternative search engine.

“It is a battle not just of mind but of heart as well. We are wanting to make an emotional connection – we are ploughing a different furrow here.”

The campaign has been created by the marketing communications agency JWT and is due to run until mid-June. It will be backed up by a digital campaign using Microsoft’s networks as well as social media.

Sources: The Guardian

Microsoft is suggesting News Corp to remove its content from Google and is offering to pay to make News Corp’s content available through their own search engine Bing, Financial Times reports.

According to the article, Microsoft has also approached other online publishers about their plan.

The talks follow News Corp mogul Rupert Murdoch’s rant over search engines, such as Google, “stealing” content. The owner of one of the world’s largest media groups has threatened to block search engines as the clicks they produce don’t transform into loyal readers.

In addition to Murdoch’s plans, Marketing Week has reported that two more US newspaper publishers are considering of blocking Google from listing their content.

Financial Times called Microsoft’s plans as a “direct assault on Google” as they put pressure on search engines to start paying for content.

Bing was launched in June and had its full UK launch mid November. According to a Marketing Week article, the new search engine is aimed to be more organised in its search results through features such as categorised search.

The marketing manager of Microsoft Advertising, Cedric Chambaz, said they wanted to make search experience more engaging and praised the company of finally been able to create a challenger for Google.