MDAS + YHOO - Who Needs Search?

Search is massive but it isn't a replacement for ALL marketing activity.  Since my visit to the Microsoft mega-bash in Paris last year where the company laid out it's vast new media platform - MDAS - it has been clear that Microsoft are pursuing a different strategy to Google.  Yes, Google is an amazing platform driven by Search dollars (aka The Database of Intentions).  But that's all about text.  And the web is changing from a text-driven environment to an everything-driven environment, including video, which is a much, much bigger playground than just Search.  Famously, Google tried to suck up the video area by buying YouTube.  But that's had limited success to date - from an advertising perspective.  And subsequently the company has gone after TV, print, mobile and other audiences.  But text-driven search dominates its revenues.  However, MDAS is a mixed basket of marketing offerings that goes way beyond text.  And, crucially, it's one that can support branding activity.  One problem for MS is that MDAS is at an early stage, whilst Adsense is already up-and-running and purring away.  But that could change as MS is hardly about to run out of cash or engineers.  And if Ballmer and Co can get the heart of MDAS running (effectively aQuantive but specifically Atlas) and plug it into the vast Yahoo global audience they can start hoovering up mega-marketing budgets.  Then - who needs Search?

[Update: SVI throws further weight behind the MDAS aspect.]

Comments

[Eamon]

Surely one of the important things for the future is visual story-telling / communicating information via visuals (Renaissance art, cinema, terestrial TV, digital TV). Whatever shape visual story-telling takes / is called in the future, it is going to be crucial.

[James Cherkoff]

Thanks Eamon, I couldn't agree more. Visual story-telling is a nice phrase and will be as important as ever. It's the shape side of it that is causing all the problems. For example I went to a Microsoft briefing this week where they spoke about a seven second spot...but their MDAS system offers a rather overwhelming number of options beyond that too.