14 DAY TRIAL // There is little doubt that Bing, the new brand that Microsoft is using for its search engine, has a certain musical resonance to it, a “certain je-ne-sais-quoi” acoustic reverberation if you will. Certainly it managed to beat the tone-deaf Live Search hands, or ears down. But when it comes to the musicality of a brand, it is the end users who should put Bing to notes. And Microsoft is providing just the chance for them to do so, and win a little money while they’re at it. This can be done via a new contest debuted by Microsoft, asking Bing users to leverage their musical talent in order to come up with a jingle tailored to the brand that killed Live Search.
“Fans of Bing find it easy to say and often speak the name like a sound effect, especially when you find what you’re looking for online. Bing! Since everyone is having fun with the name, we thought it would be interesting to see what you can do with it, put to a little music! Got a fun jingle, or as we like to say in the halls around here “Bingle” you want to share?” a Bing team representative asked. “Warm up those vocal cords, bust out your flip, video mobile phone or camcorder and start getting creative because today we are launching the “Bing Jingle Contest” on the Bing YouTube site.”
To enter the contest, provided that users respect the rules, a YouTube video will be necessary, with the tag “BingJingle.” All entries have to be submitted by the end of this month, the Redmond company noted. All content has to be in compliance with YouTube.com terms of service, and cannot be longer than five minutes. The winner will be determined 50.00% - number of views and 50.00% - user ratings.
“What will the reward be for embarrassing yourself online to potentially millions of people? How does a $500 American Express gift cheque sound? Music to your ears we hope! The contest winner will be picked based on number of views and quality of ratings they get on their video submission. You have until July 31, 2009 to submit your video entry and the winner will be announced on August 5,” revealed a member of the Bing team.