Microsoft, acknowledging its weakness in the web search market, plans a major ad campaign and rebrand for its Live Search product this Spring, essentially mounting an ad war against Google and Yahoo.

While the name of the new challenger has yet to be confirmed, an AdAge article published today suggests the rebrand might include a name change to "Bing", along with an $80 to $100 million ad campaign. Google, by comparison, spent a total of $25 million on ads in 2008. Ads will appear on the web, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.

AdAge writes:

People with knowledge of the planned push said the ads won't go after Google, or Yahoo for that matter, by name. Instead, they'll focus on planting the idea that today's search engines don't work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems. That, Microsoft is hoping, will give consumers a reason to consider switching search engines, which, of course, is one of Bing's biggest challenges.... Indeed, data show that about 65% of people are satisfied or very satisfied with online search. But Microsoft sees an opening on its own proprietary search data: 42% of searches require refinement, and 25% of clicks are the back button.

We'd like to think that what matters in search is the results: Google wins simply because it provides a better experience, serving up the information we want faster and with less effort than rival search engines.

Ads versus Better Products

Microsoft has enjoyed success with recent ad campaigns: the "Laptop Hunters" ads have lowered young people's value perception of the Apple brand while increasing the perception that PCs offer good value, AdAge reported previously. This hit, however, followed a major flop with Microsoft's "Seinfeld" ads.

And yet the Laptop Hunter ads highlighted Apple's weakness at a time of economic struggle: Apple products are indeed more expensive (although Mac supporters would argue that they still offer greater value). By contrast, to make the case that Microsoft's new search engine is somehow better than Google - a feat they're unlikely to achieve any time soon - is essentially misinformation.

Can Microsoft advertise its way out of its web search rut? It seems unlikely.