Ask.com
Ask.com (originally known as Ask Jeeves) is a question answering–focused e-business founded in 1996 by Garrett Gruener and David Warthen in Berkeley, California.
Type of business
English
June 3, 1996 (as Ask Jeeves) February 2006 (as Ask.com)
Garrett Gruener
David Warthen (Founders)
Douglas Leeds (CEO)
Ask Media Group, LLC
Optional
Active
The original software was implemented by Gary Chevsky, from his own design. Warthen, Chevsky, Justin Grant, and others built the early AskJeeves.com website around that core engine. In 2006, the "Jeeves" name was dropped and they refocused on the search engine, which had its own algorithm.[2] In late 2010, facing insurmountable competition from more popular search engines like Google, the company outsourced its web search technology and returned to its roots as a question and answer site.[3] Douglas Leeds was elevated from president to CEO in 2010.[4]
Three venture capital firms, Highland Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, and The RODA Group were early investors.[5] Ask.com is currently owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC) under the Nasdaq symbol Nasdaq: IAC, and its corporate headquarters are located at 555 City Center, in the Oakland City Center development in downtown Oakland, California.
Marketing and promotion[edit]
From November 1999, Ask Jeeves advertised on produce stickers on apples, oranges and bananas. Questions such as "How many calories in a banana?" were printed alongside the Ask Jeeves web address.[35][36]
A Jeeves balloon and a float appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade through 2000–2004.[36][37]
Apostolos Gerasoulis, the co-creator of Ask's Teoma algorithmic search technology, starred in four television advertisements in 2007, extolling the virtues of Ask.com's usefulness for information relevance.[38]
After a hiatus from mass consumer marketing, Ask returned to TV advertising in the fall of 2011 after refocusing its site on questions and answers.[39] Instead of national advertising, Ask focused on local markets. In the summer of 2012, Ask launched a national cinema campaign,[40] along with other out-of-home tactics in certain markets such as New York and Seattle.[41]
As part of a Seattle-based local market effort, Ask.com launched its "You Asked We Answered"[42] campaign in 2012, in which the company "answered" residents' top complaints about living in their city, including easing morning commutes and stadium traffic, as well as keeping the local Parks and Rec department wading pools open.
On January 14, 2009, Ask.com became the official sponsor of 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Bobby Labonte's No. 96 Ford. Ask would become the official search engine of NASCAR.[43] Ask.com was the primary sponsor for the No. 96 for 18 of the first 21 races and had rights to increase this to a total of 29 races that season.[44] The Ask.com car debuted in the 2009 Bud Shootout where it failed to finish the race, but subsequently returned strongly, placing as high as 5th in a March 1, 2009, Shelby 427 race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.[45] Ask.com's foray into NASCAR represented the first instance of its venture into what it calls "Super Verticals".[46]
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