Bing vs Google with the help of Pepsi? lol

NEW YORK - Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing search engine may be stuck in a distant second place, but Microsoft thinks it can prove its search results are better than Google's (GOOG).

In a nod to another famous runner-up, Microsoft launched a "Pepsi Challenge"-like marketing campaign Thursday called "Bing it On." The software giant will be giving users side-by-side search results that have been stripped of any formatting. Microsoft will ask users to choose the most helpful set.

As with Pepsi when it took on Coke with blind taste tests in the 1970s and '80s, Microsoft is confident that consumers will like Bing better than Google. In its own blind studies, Microsoft has found that people prefer Bing two-to-one over Google.

To let people see for themselves, Microsoft is providing an online tool at bingiton.com, where users can look at unadorned Google and Bing results on the same page. After ranking results five times, the site will tell users which site they liked best.

Microsoft also quietly performed "man on the street" tests in San Francisco in June, betting people that they would prefer Bing to Google in a blind challenge. The company filmed some of them for commercials.

If people picked Google, Microsoft would give them a free Xbox. But if Bing won, the person had to give Microsoft a personal item and exclaim their love for Bing on camera. Microsoft said it accumulated an eclectic pile of items, including shoes, cameras, a yoga mat and a hooded sweatshirt.

Microsoft will launch its first television commercial during the MTV Video Music Awards Thursday night, and it will begin to take the challenge to other cities across the United States.