Dennis Yu

Microsoft Bing Launch at the Seattle Space Needle-- call it BLING, not Bing!

The Space Needle is flooded in Orange light tonight, the color of Bing. A giant searchlight, reminding me of the Luxor, shone straight up the air for which the Microsoft spokesperson told me that they had to get a FAA permit to do.  We saw helicopters circling the Space Needle to capture the epic moment from all angles.  There were mimes posing as shopping carts, cyclists, nurses and patients, and searchers.  The open bar was fully stocked with premium liquor– even Patron.  Dozens of waiters whisked out salmon, chocolate cupcakes with BING printed on them and delicious goodies.  I estimate 400 people in attendance and close to $100k spent on just this event– facilities, catering, security, entertainment, alcohol, giveaways, and professional staff. What’s the measurable ROI on this?

According to AdAge, Microsoft has $80 million to $100 million budgeted for this launch, so this is only a tenth of one percent of their budget.  More appropriate would have been to bathe the Space Needle in green– the color of deep pockets that will invest heavily to market this new search engine– codenamed for the sound of “discovery”.  I personally think that they should have bought ad.com, when it was up for auction last month. But “BING” is a four-letter word– and you can tell folks to “Go BING Yourself!”, which is better than “Go Google Yourself!”

Do you remember when ValueJet went out of business because one of their jets blew up and killed all 105 passengers in 1997?  The day after the company went bankrupt, a new company named AirTran started.  Same staff, same planes, same everything– just repainted the jets to another color and gave it a new name.  Is this an apt analogy for Microsoft rebranding their search engine?  I gotta admit that BING is better than Kumo.

Microsoft is not ValueJet– not because operating systems can just reboot after crashing, but because Microsoft has deep talent in large-scale programmatic search.  That’s what the PR lady told me when I asked her. Their tools are coming along and are, unfortunately, being compared to Google at every turn.  Even if the technology is just as good, people will still prefer Google.

Thus, they are differentiating in LOCAL search – we are looking forward to working with the BING folks to offer a great solution to those 20 million small businesses in the US (not to mention the international opportunity).  It’s a market that Google and Yahoo! have not figured out.  Personally, when I was at Yahoo!, I was sad to see the company unable to grasp the opportunity that our internal market research was hitting us on the head with.

Mime station evidently depicts “local” searches

E-commerce mimes?

The entertainment director said he was on a “need-to-know basis” when we
asked what areas of search these other mimes actually represented.

Entering the venue at sunset

A shot outside as the crowd started to roll in

The row of terminals to test out the latest Bing technology. Rumor is porn
videos can be previewed from the search results page.

Mini-cupcakes topped with Bing-covered chocolates


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Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.
I'm a member of Blitzmetrics Academy and a friend of Dennis to boot. Not only is Dennis highly intelligent and full of great and creative ideas, he's also incredibly generous with both his knowledge and his time. Success couldn't come to a better guy. Thank you for all that you do for the world, Dennis! 🙏

Michael Pacheco

Marketer

Thanks 🙏 for being shining light in this industry. Love what your building for works overseas too network for jobs so innovative. Dennis helped me navigate having bad experiences with marketing agencies and doing dollar a day marketing which has helped my personal brand tremendously. Highly recommend.

Eric Skeldon

Founder at Kingdom Broker

Working with Dennis has been a delightful experience. After meeting him in 2015 I got to collaborate with him on countless occasions. His understanding for state-of-the-art marketing, his implementation, and his leadership put him into the top 0.01% of marketers and mentors.

Jan Koch

Ihr kompetenter Partner für innovative KI-Strategien.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dennis for my podcast in 2021 and since then we have maintained a friendship that grows with each interaction. I have seen Dennis' devotion to his friends and clients firsthand, and our conversations often result in us talking about how we can provide more value to the people around us. He is someone whom I can ask questions on a technical level, and look to on a personal level. If you have any hesitancy about hiring him, get over yourself and do it!

Isaac Mashman

Help scaling personal brands.

Geez, where do I start recommending Dennis? First, he is an absolutely brilliant marketer who understands where marketing is today and where it's going tomorrow. He also has an incredible passion for the International Worker community. The lessons he has taught me from his almost 20 years of experience hiring International Workers have been immense. Most importantly though. Dennis Yu is someone who wants the absolute best for you and is willing to tell you the truth. Dennis sat with me at a point in my business where I was floundering but did not want to admit it. He asked some very straight forward questions to get me to admit my issues, highlighted the issues, and then helped me create a roadmap to success.

Atiba de Souza

International Keynote Speaker | Video Content Superman | Superconnector |

Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will notr regret Dennis, which I had the pleasure of working with is one of the most giving, honest and tell you as it is person I ever know. The knowledge this man has is remarkable and he just gives it out freely. He is not pretentious and always entertain anyone big or small in the industry always willing to help. If you ever get a golden opportunity to work with him or mentored by him say YES!. You will not regret

Nixon Lee

The PR Whisperer

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