Update: Microsoft has shared a letter written to Stanley Bing:
Dear Bing (the Author),
We couldn’t help sit up and take notice of your offer of services from one Bing to another. We were moderately surprised and mildly excited. As you might have guessed, today is quite a big day for us. Even so, we dropped everything when we saw your press release this morning. After an emergency meeting (three people were invited, all declined), we’ve decided to take you up on your offer. We’re not certain what exactly this would involve. We’re not certain it would pay much (nothing, actually) but we look forward to starting a dialogue and hope we can work together soon. Let’s do lunch. In the meantime we are sending you a case of moderately priced cigars.
Your pals,
Bing.com
Original Article: A man named Stanely Bing, who is a columnist for Fortune Magazine and a best-selling author, has issued a press release today expressing his “moderate outrage” at the branding of Microsoft’s new search engine – Bing.
Being how Stanley Bing (real name Gil Schwartz according to Wikipedia) is known as a “business humorist,” one can only assume the release was issued with a sense of humor. In fact, the style of the release pretty much confirms that. Here’s a sample:
At the same time, Bing the Author took the unusual step of offering an initial olive branch to Bing the Search Engine, proposing that the two powerful brands merge into one for which Mr. Bing could be the logo, corporate symbol and spokesman, to the extent that it fits in with his other duties.
“This is an unprecedented case of brand intrusion by one of the most powerful and wealthy corporations in the world,” said Bing the Author, as opposed to Bing the Search Engine, which, unlike Mr. Bing himself, cannot be called for comment because it is not a person. “At the same time, I believe I can propose a solution to this problem that will work to the benefit of both Bings, me and the other one,” he added.
Kudos to Mr. Bing for gaining some publicity off of a big announcement from a giant company like Microsoft. I’m sure others will pick this story up as well. Twitterers are already all over it:
Bing goes on to talk about how he has been cultivating the “Bing” brand, whereas Microsoft has only been doing so for a couple hours.
He also noted how he would be “willing to consider ‘any reasonable offer’ for his services, or simply to provide no services, if that’s what seems best.” His full release can be read here.
