Microsoft is hoping “Bing” will put some zing into its languishing search engine.

The software giant is set to unveil a broad revamp of its Live Search engine at an industry gathering that starts today in San Diego, and the name that Microsoft is expected go with for the new service is Bing.

The company will conduct a demonstration at the D: All Things Digital conference, intending to build buzz ahead of the official launch in June, when the company will kick off a major advertising campaign.

But although Microsoft is focused on building a better search engine to rival Google, the real challenge is overcoming its competitor’s powerful brand.

Bing is presumably a reference to the proverbial light bulb that goes off in your head when a good idea hits, but company insiders wouldn’t rule out a last-minute name change. Microsoft has trademarked a number of possible monikers, including Hook and Sift, to throw people off the scent.

Bing is the kind of cute, quirky name that helped endear users to Google, but search experts said it will take a lot more to break users of their Google habit. An entire generation of Web users grew up on Google, and they automatically turn to it every time they search.

“It’s a marketing problem, really,” said Kevin Lee, chairman of search marketing firm Did-It. “Google is synonymous with search.”

Microsoft tapped ad agency JWT to handle the campaign for the new search engine, eschewing long-time ad partner McCann Erickson. There is speculation that JWT is crafting a comparative campaign — along the lines of Apple’s popular Mac vs. PC ads — to tackle the problem.