Search Trends - Search Engine Marketing

News.com reports:

"Writers for the popular show on Fox chose to plug Amazon.com's new search engine A9.com as a synonym for hunting down something on the Web, instead of using the well-worn phrase 'I Googled it,' like leagues of others. 'I A9.com'd him last night, and according to the O.C. Weekly, he's pretty much everything that's wrong with Western civilization,' one of the cast members said to another on Thursday night's episode."

A9 CEO says they didn't pay for the plug and didn't even know it was going to air. Hmmm. I have a hard time believing A9 didn't pay somebody or provide some kind of favor (maybe cross-promotion deal or something) for the mention. At the very least one of the show's writers has to be buddies with someone at A9. I don't watch the show, but I'm sure everyone who was watching said, "What's A9.com?", and went and checked it out. It was a great product placement, but I really doubt any real person has actually ever said they "A9.com'd such and such thing. I've never heard it said. I've heard tons of people use "Googled" as a verb. It's kind of fun for people to say and people understand what it means when you say it.

The funny thing is, A9's web search is actually just an Amazon-enhanced version of Google anyway. Don't get me wrong. I like A9. I think their personalization features are great and they're always adding cool features like the yellow pages with maps and pictures they recently unveiled. All I'm saying is that for now at least, real people don't use A9.com as a verb.