Edited on Jun 23, 2026.
Microsoft launched Bing Hero Ads this week — a richly visual mobile search ad format that gives brand advertisers a full visual landing experience inside the Bing search results. The launch partner list reads like a roll call of mid-2010s brand advertising: Land Rover, Jaguar, Home Depot, Norwegian Cruise Line, RadioShack, Hertz, and Volkswagen. The format is the most consequential mobile search ad innovation Microsoft has shipped in the Bing era, and it is part of a broader Bing Smart Search release that includes Location Extensions, Call Extensions, and the broader enhanced campaign architecture.
This is the working profile of what Hero Ads actually deliver, why the format matters for mobile search advertising, and what the broader Bing competitive position looks like heading into the close of 2013.
What Hero Ads actually are
Hero Ads are a visual mobile search ad format. When a user searches a Bing-served query that triggers a Hero Ads campaign, the search results page presents a full-screen visual brand experience rather than a traditional blue-link text ad. The visual experience includes large brand imagery, a structured brand identity panel, navigable brand categories, and a call-to-action surface that connects to the brand's mobile experience.
The launch partners ran the spectrum of consumer categories. Land Rover and Jaguar used the format to feature vehicle imagery and dealer-locator integration. Home Depot used Hero Ads for seasonal product promotion. Norwegian Cruise Line built destination-focused brand experiences. RadioShack featured product promotion. Hertz tied car rental availability to mobile search context. Volkswagen used the format for vehicle lineup exploration.
The format is part of a broader Bing Smart Search release that includes several other innovations.
The Smart Search context
Bing Smart Search is the broader mobile search release that Microsoft has been rolling out across 2013. Hero Ads are one component. Several others are landing simultaneously.
Location Extensions. Advertisers can now attach physical location information — store addresses, hours, mapping — directly to mobile search ads. Microsoft's reported finding from early Location Extension data: 10 to 30 percent lift in click-through rates for advertisers with physical retail.
Call Extensions. Click-to-call functionality is now natively integrated into Bing mobile ads. Microsoft's reported finding: up to 30 percent higher click-through rates for ads with call extensions activated.
Enhanced campaigns architecture. Bing has moved to an enhanced campaigns architecture that lets advertisers manage cross-device targeting, bidding, and creative within unified campaign structures — similar to what Google AdWords introduced earlier this year.
App Install ads. A new mobile app install ad format lets advertisers promote mobile applications directly inside Bing search results.
Why Hero Ads matter for mobile search
Three reasons the Hero Ads format is consequential for the broader mobile search ad category.
The visual ad question is no longer optional. Mobile search ad inventory has historically been text-only or thinly visual. Consumer attention to mobile content has shifted toward richly visual experiences across Facebook, Instagram, and the broader mobile content category. Search ads that do not adapt to the visual baseline lose effectiveness. Hero Ads are Microsoft's answer.
Brand advertising on search is underdeveloped. Search has historically been a direct-response advertising channel. Brand advertisers have largely allocated their budgets to display, social, and video. Hero Ads explicitly target the brand advertising budget by offering a search-context format that delivers brand impact comparable to display advertising.
Mobile is the priority channel. Mobile search query volume is growing substantially faster than desktop. The brand and advertiser focus on mobile commerce, mobile engagement, and mobile brand experience is increasing every quarter. Search ad formats designed specifically for mobile address the channel where the growth is.
The competitive context
The Hero Ads launch lands in a competitive search advertising environment that is more dynamic than it has been in several years.
Google's enhanced campaigns rollout. Google AdWords launched enhanced campaigns in mid-2013, forcing advertisers to migrate to a unified cross-device campaign architecture. The Bing enhanced campaigns release matches the Google framework, making cross-platform campaign management easier for advertisers running both networks.
Facebook's brand advertising surge. Facebook has been aggressively building brand advertising capability through Atlas, Custom Audiences, and Lookalike Audiences. The platform is competing for brand budgets that historically went to display and television.
YouTube's pre-roll dominance. Google's YouTube has become the leading destination for online brand video advertising. TrueView, the skippable pre-roll format, has produced strong advertiser results.
Bing Hero Ads compete in this broader environment by offering a search-context brand format that none of the other major platforms can match directly. Whether the format can attract enough brand spend to make a meaningful share difference is the open question.
Where Bing actually sits
Bing's market position has been quietly strengthening across 2013.
Search market share. Bing's U.S. search share now sits around 18 percent including Yahoo's syndicated search results that Bing serves through the Search Alliance. Year-over-year growth has been positive.
Ad revenue growth. Microsoft's online services business has been growing ad revenue faster than the overall search ad market. The combination of share growth and improving monetization is producing material revenue gains.
Mobile search growth. Bing has been investing heavily in mobile search experience improvements. The Smart Search release is one of the most substantive mobile updates the platform has shipped.
Advertiser interest. The Bing advertiser base has been growing. The combination of lower cost-per-click than Google, Yahoo audience inclusion, and now substantive mobile ad innovation makes the platform a more attractive media buy than it has been historically.
What advertisers should take from the Hero Ads launch
Three operating considerations for advertisers and brand teams thinking about Hero Ads.
The format suits brand campaigns. Hero Ads are not a direct-response format. They are a brand-impact format that uses search context to deliver visual brand experiences. Brand advertisers with mobile-relevant audiences should be evaluating Hero Ads as part of their mobile brand budget allocation.
The launch partners list signals format fit. The categories of the launch partners — automotive, travel, large retail — suggest the format works best for brands with strong visual identity, high-consideration products, and mobile-relevant purchase journeys. Brands in those categories should be early adopters.
Cross-platform measurement matters. Hero Ads will produce different metrics than text-based search ads. Brand advertisers running both formats need measurement frameworks that capture brand impact alongside direct-response conversion. The measurement work needs to be done in parallel with the media buying work.
What this signals about Bing's strategy
The Hero Ads launch — combined with the broader Smart Search release, the ongoing Yahoo partnership, and the parallel Cortana voice search development — signals that Microsoft's Bing strategy is shifting from "catch up to Google on text search" to "differentiate on the formats Google has not prioritized." Visual mobile search ads. Voice-driven query interfaces. Location-aware extensions. The pattern is consistent.
Whether the differentiation strategy can produce share gains beyond the modest growth Bing has been achieving is the structural question. The risk is that Google responds by matching the differentiation rather than ceding the ground. The opportunity is that brand advertisers reward the platform that takes mobile search ads seriously first.
The bottom line
Bing Hero Ads are the most consequential mobile search ad format Microsoft has shipped. The launch partner list is strong. The broader Smart Search release adds Location Extensions, Call Extensions, and enhanced campaigns to the platform's competitive position. The reported early CTR data is encouraging. Whether Hero Ads achieve commercial scale will depend on advertiser adoption across the next several quarters and on how Google and other competitors respond. For brand advertisers with mobile-relevant audiences, the format is worth a serious evaluation now rather than after the category has matured.
