In an effort to evolve within the ever-changing digital marketing landscape, Microsoft announced on Monday, April 29th, that they have changed the name of Bing Ads to Microsoft Advertising. The name change was announced on Microsoft’s blog.
Although Bing, the search engine, will remain a large part of Microsoft Advertising, Microsoft hopes to have this new name better describe the wide range of Microsoft’s advertising products, including those utilizing AI and automation.
Although Microsoft says the rebranding of Bing Ads should be a “simple shift,” they did hint at some upcoming advertising products, with a focus on AI, over the next year.
“In the next year, we’re introducing more advertising products with built-in AI, more connected to your data and your business,” the article said. “There are two offerings that showcase ways in which Microsoft Advertising is delivering on this potential: the Microsoft Audience Network and Sponsored Products.”
For Microsoft Audience Network, which was launched in 2018, Microsoft will be adding some product enhancements that include viewable impressions and image upload and management tool updates. In addition, Microsoft stated that they will be expanding this audience network, which previously was only available within the United States, to both the UK and Canada.
As for Sponsored Products, Microsoft will be introducing a new feature that will allow manufacturers and retailers to boost visibility and drive more traffic to their top products within their shopping campaigns. This new feature will only be available to those within the United States, which is common for Microsoft to do when testing a new offering.