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Carry On, Jeeves - Ask.com Reinstates Butler
No.4 ranked search engine Ask.com is re-hiring Jeeves after three years as it battles / butles for market share in the UK. Research by YouGov found most people wanted the butler reinstated, and that more UK respondents knew the AskJeeves brand (83%) than the function of Ask.com (72%).
The firm's original name, Ask Jeeves will be resumed in Britain, accompanied by a multi-million-pound advertising campaign, and searches can again be carried out from the domains askjeeves.com and askjeeves.co.uk. European MD Cesar Mascaraque told Reuters his firm was 'thrilled to be welcoming Jeeves back in the UK' and added: 'It's a kind of warm feeling that he brings back to Ask'.
Jeeves is the creation of British comic writer P.G. Wodehouse and the resourceful and unflappable servant of Bertie Wooster. The online version returns with new perks, among them a suit styled by Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes, and his own accounts on Facebook and Twitter (Indeed, Sir?).
Ask's UK market share had fallen to 2% last month, down 0.6% year-on-year, while Google dominates the market with c.75% and rivals Yahoo! and MSN come in a rather distant second and third. In the US Ask, part of Internet media company IAC/InterActive Corp, has 3.8% of the market (figures from comScore).
Web sites: www.askjeeves.com , www.ask.com .
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