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Microsoft Allots More Cash to Ads For Search Engine

Excerpt: Microsoft Corp. plans to intensify its attack on Google Inc. with a four-month advertising and marketing campaign to promote its new Internet search engine.

Microsoft Corp. plans to intensify its attack on Google Inc. with a four-month advertising and marketing campaign to promote its new Internet search engine.

Microsoft Vice President Yusuf Mehdi said Microsoft will promote its MSN Search service using "grassroots" marketing, online advertisements and commercials in select cities during the Super Bowl and college-basketball playoffs.

Mr. Mehdi said Microsoft will spend in the tens of millions of dollars on the campaign, which is in addition to the $100 million Microsoft said last year it spent to develop and market its Internet search business. He declined to specify total spending.

Marketing could be a key weapon for Microsoft as the Redmond, Wash., software maker seeks to compete with search-industry leaders Google and Yahoo Inc. Along with the marketing campaign, Microsoft yesterday said it had begun using its own technology exclusively for its MSN Search function. Microsoft had previously relied on Yahoo's technology for its search engine.

One of Google's biggest strengths is its brand name. Microsoft will use its campaign to try to build awareness of the MSN Search service among professional workers between ages of 25 and 45 who regularly use the Internet, Mr. Mehdi said. He said the campaign will include online ads on Web sites including Weather.com, ABCNews.com and Reuters.com. Its Super Bowl commercials won't air nationally, but will appear in local markets including Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco.

Microsoft hopes to differentiate its service from a field that largely provides the same type of features and functions. For example, Microsoft says its search service will provide instant answers to questions and not just links to Web. Mr. Mehdi said MSN Search can now handle 1.5 million answers drawn from Microsoft's Encarta online dictionary.

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