Microsoft has recently landed a deal with Channel 4 cartoon, The Simpsons, in Microsoft’s first sponsorship of a UK television programme. The deal also ties in with the 20^th anniversary of the cartoon series and has become the very first technology company to get behind the show and provide them with a sponsor.

The sponsorship deal will help push a major advertising approach for their new search engine deal, Microsoft Bing. Microsoft has invested millions to encourage more people to start using the search engine and build a better presence online, hoping that the broad spectrum popularity of The Simpsons will assist with this.

Specially designed Microsoft Bing adverts will be shown before, after and in commercial breaks of every Simpsons show on Channel 4 and Channel 4+1. The adverts will depict families using Microsoft Bing as their preferred choice of search engine.

Microsoft had previously been the main sponsor for another cartoon series, Family Guy, but stepped back from the deal after deciding that the sometimes offensive, adult content of the show did not fit the company’s brand.

The adverts – which are using the tag “Bing and decide” – aim to show viewers how the search engine is different to any others. The TV campaign will be supported by Microsoft Live, MSN, partner sites and online news providers.

With Google currently leading the search engine market, Microsoft is putting together a massive advertising campaign to meet their goals and become Google’s closest rivals – a title currently held by Yahoo. Google search massively dominates the field at the moment, taking over 80% of the global search market. With large investments and company time Microsoft Bing will certainly try to change these figures to their advantage.

Whilst online advertising showed an increase recently, television advertising showed quite a significant decrease. It still remains the case that both forms of advertising provide their own benefits. However, ignoring or getting away from television ads has become too easy with services like Sky + allowing you to skip them. Online strategies are researched and set up to always catch the attention of online searchers browsing the web.

Online marketing strategies are becoming more popular due to amount of people using the worldwide web today. When choosing an online ad it can be visible 24 hours a day for many targeted viewers to see on a day to day basis, and the information can truly be aimed at a relevant audience. With TV advertisements on the other hand, a short snippet is shown at specific times which can be missed by millions of viewers, and may not be seen by people who are actually interested in your product.

Below is a table showing some of the key benefits both marketing strategies have to offer.

Advantages of choosing to spend within, online advertisement

1. Your advert is viewable 24 hours every day.
2. Target the correct audience easily.
3. You have the ability to log in to check results, modify your ad and build new strategies.

Advantages of spending with TV advertising

1. Ability to use sound, motion and sight.
2. Target a large audience at that one given time.
3. Can get your message across easily.