Ms. Dewey, a flash-animated site hosted by a “sexy” interactive search assistant who gives sassy responses corresponding to visitor queries, complemented by relevant MSN search results. Via dynamic video, she audibly comments on the user’s keyword searches in her own style and makes random actions when idle, including fiddling with props from behind her desk. The experimental interface features a modern cityscape as its backdrop that changes with the time of day, all designed to replicate as “live” a search response as possible. Ms. Dewey’s responses consisted of more than 600 video clips all recorded over a period of three days.

The site received over 40 million visitors to date with thousands of visits daily, which is traffic that Microsoft was able to monetize through advertising. Over 13 million actual queries were performed and almost 2 million clicks on Live Search results. 1 of every 2 sessions resulted in a click. 1,400 other sites link to MsDewey.com; 70,000 blogs have been written about “Ms Dewey;” Ms. Dewey has been featured on CNBC’s The Big Idea, Forbes, FastCompany, Seattle Times, and USA Today’s Pop Candy.

Nearly two years after launch, it’s still attracting visitors and moving Microsoft’s search business forward.

Press links:

http://blogs.forbes.com/digitaldownload/2006/10/more_on_microso.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?blogid=19&entry_id=10487