Microsoft search engine Bing has unveiled plans to take on Google’s all-conquering AdWords platform with the launch of Bing Ads in Australia and New Zealand.  

The joint-venture with leading digital company Mi9 will go live here in July as part of Microsoft’s long-term investment in search and search advertising in both countries.  

With an estimated five million Australians using Bing every month, the company has said it's excited to add search to Mi9’s end-to-end offering to advertisers in Australia and New Zealand.

Microsoft’s Steve Sirich, global head of Bing Ads, who is in Sydney this week as keynote speaker at the Search Marketing Expo (SMX), told B&T that it’s eager to make a dent in Google’s search advertising stronghold in Australia.

“Google has a stronghold in most markets in this area, but Microsoft is continuing to invest in search advertising as part of our services experience,” said Sirich.

“We see it as a marathon not a sprint against Google … we’re aware they're the industry leader. But we think we can differentiate from them, because we see that search is evolving from just a destination experience into more of a platform one that powers multiple services," he added.

To run the new platform, Mi9 will be hiring 12 new search specialists across sales, operations and product.

“We’re in the process of hiring 12 people at moment, after that we’ll take a look at where we need to grow,” Marc Barnett (pictured), commercial director at Mi9, told B&T.  

“They will be split between frontline sales staff and operations staff, with nine based in Sydney and three in Melbourne,” Barnett revealed. “Mi9 will be taking Bing Ads to market, selling right through the full suite of end-to-end digital ad solutions."