Failure or Ask throws in the towel

Came across this yesterday...

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- In a dramatic about-face, Ask.com is abandoning its effort to outshine Internet search leader Google Inc. and will instead focus on a narrower market consisting of married women looking for help managing their lives.

As part of the new direction outlined Tuesday, Ask will lay off about 40 employees, or 8 percent of its work force.

With the shift, the Oakland-based company will return to its roots by concentrating on finding answers to basic questions about recipes, hobbies, children's homework, entertainment and health.

The decision to cater to married women primarily living in the southern and midwestern United States comes after Ask spent years trying to build a better all-purpose search engine than Google.

And—I might as well admit—that I had one of those always vanity gratifying I-thought-so moments because this was one of those cases when I just didn’t see that Ask had much of a chance.

I had some reason to care because I pitched the business back at a previous job against a bunch of agencies, including CPB which ended up with it. During the pitch process, I cranked out some quick research ( focus groups, an online survey or two, analyzing site analytics) and rarely in my career have I seen such clear evidence for a well-met need among a bunch of consumers. I remember I had included one open-ended question that asked something like: “Can you think of time when you couldn’t find something you were searching for online. And if so, please describe it.” and what I got were the replies of a very long list of very satisfied customers.

No
No
No
Yes, but I can’t remember what it is.
No
No
No
Google can find anything
No
Well, once I was looking for a copy of the 1928 recording of the complete Bach cantatas performed in Prague...…
No
No
No


You get the idea. I had a bunch of other evidence too, all of which pointed to the same clear conclusion: Google works really well. What a shock?

This is not to suggest that Google is perfect. Or that “Google can do anything” as Sophie, the possibly anorexic gymnast, said on In Treatment last night. Google isn’t very good at searching video or shopping or finding technical info in specific verticals, which is why so many competitors are rushing into those spaces. But as far as general searching goes, most consumers still find it pretty effective and frankly amazing. So when CPB came out with their attempt to call attention to Asks superior algorithm, I had big doubts that anyone would care. The ads did a reasonably good job getting people to recognize there might be an alternative to Google. But why would you want one?

But if you trust the consultant Ann Billock, CPB might be the first to admit they missed the mark and forgot to ask whether consumers need the thing they were selling. As she said in this interview in Adage on the big Microsoft hire, one of the reasons Crispin is so fruitful is that "They are not afraid to fail." And I'm all for that.