In recent weeks, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has admitted very publicly that it has bungled the marketing around its Live Search search engine. The company now plans to spend up to $100 million to fix its image in the market, according to a report in AdAge. Microsoft has hired ad agency JWT to run an online, TV, print and radio campaign that will coincide with a Spring relaunch of Live Search that is expected to introduce new features to the search engine as well as possibly a new brand name, Kumo. AdAge says that the “forthcoming campaign will be careful to not position ‘Kumo’ as a competitor to Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) or Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and instead cast it as a reimagined search engine that ups the game by yielding fewer but more-focused results.”

It obviously isn’t clear that the major ad campaign will boost Microsoft’s market share. AdAge notes that despite launching a big advertising campaign in 2007, Ask.com’s market share nevertheless decreased and the company has since cut its ad budget. But Microsoft is definitely a believer in the power of ads (After all, it’s spending $300 million on an overall campaign to boost its image). And the company is convinced that perceptions of its search product—and not the product itself—are responsible for its lackluster market share, which badly trails Yahoo and Google. A Microsoft spokeswoman would not comment.

• Interview: Microsoft’s Live Search GM Mike Nichols Promises Fresh Start
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