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You could say the same thing about Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, etc. In fact every single search engine I can think of has got a blatant disregard for appearing pr

You could say the same thing about Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, etc. In fact every single search engine I can think of has got a blatant disregard for appearing professional. As ssp pointed out (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1226660 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1226660) you could hardly find something less conspicuous than a duck face in a big red circle. In my view it's a great asset.

MikeCapone 16y ago
This was discussed previously, and I think that the biggest difference is that Bing and Google are "silly non-specific" while DuckDuckGo is "silly specific", which means that when you think of it, it sounds kind of silly, and you know why and you have a mental picture of a duck or whatever in your head. Google is kind of a weird word, but it didn't feel quite as silly even way back when it came out. Same with Bing.
- jjs 16y ago
  How about Amazon? When you visit their site, do you think of rain forests or Xena?
  - MikeCapone 16y ago
    No, but I don't think Amazon is very silly name at all. To me it's similar to the company that is called Patagonia. Just named after a geographical region. They could've been called Alps.com and it would've been on a similar level of silliness, IMO (not that silliness is an exact science, but I'm going with my gut here). Cartoon ducks aren't quite comparable, IMHO.
- zavulon 16y ago
  Also - Google, Facebook, Youtube, Yahoo, Bing, etc are very short. "Duck Duck Go" isn't.
kyro 16y ago
When you think of Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, Zappos, Ebay, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, etc, what comes to mind? To me, nothing at all. They don't invoke any particular image in my head. They sound cool, often silly, and are recognizable, but that's as far as they go. That's not the case with DDG, in my opinion. I think about the duck, start making childish associations with it, and always arrive at the same conclusion - that I will not be using it to replace Google. There's got to be a marketing concept/theory/term that describes this component of brand recognition.
- alextgordon 16y ago
  Surely having something come to mind is a good thing. It doesn't matter if you personally dislike it, what matters is that you remembered it. For every person who finds it crude and unprofessional there's another who likes it. This second group is the market to capture.

MikeCapone 16y ago

This was discussed previously, and I think that the biggest difference is that Bing and Google are "silly non-specific" while DuckDuckGo is "silly specific", which means that when you think of it, it sounds kind of silly, and you know why and you have a mental picture of a duck or whatever in your head. Google is kind of a weird word, but it didn't feel quite as silly even way back when it came out. Same with Bing.

jjs 16y ago
How about Amazon? When you visit their site, do you think of rain forests or Xena?
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  No, but I don't think Amazon is very silly name at all. To me it's similar to the company that is called Patagonia. Just named after a geographical region. They could've been called Alps.com and it would've been on a similar level of silliness, IMO (not that silliness is an exact science, but I'm going with my gut here). Cartoon ducks aren't quite comparable, IMHO.
zavulon 16y ago
Also - Google, Facebook, Youtube, Yahoo, Bing, etc are very short. "Duck Duck Go" isn't.

kyro 16y ago

When you think of Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, Zappos, Ebay, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, etc, what comes to mind? To me, nothing at all. They don't invoke any particular image in my head. They sound cool, often silly, and are recognizable, but that's as far as they go. That's not the case with DDG, in my opinion. I think about the duck, start making childish associations with it, and always arrive at the same conclusion - that I will not be using it to replace Google. There's got to be a marketing concept/theory/term that describes this component of brand recognition.

alextgordon 16y ago
Surely having something come to mind is a good thing. It doesn't matter if you personally dislike it, what matters is that you remembered it. For every person who finds it crude and unprofessional there's another who likes it. This second group is the market to capture.