Google Turns To Broadcast When Things Get Tough
Posted on February 8, 2010 by Bill Hansen
Google is putting their money where their mouth isn’t: brand marketing via broadcast media.
The internet advertising behemoth has been running broadcast ads since mid-January and invested an estimated $5 million for a single 53-second Super Bowl TV ad. The spot, an emotion-laden story about life, love and adventure, driven by Google searching, was one of the critic’s favorites this morning.
What most advertising pundits missed was this: Why does a company that has unlimited ability to advertise and build name recognition across billions of web pages every single day need to advertise on TV? The answer: Google is facing real competition today from Microsoft/Bing, and soon probably from Apple. They realize that they can’t just win with superior algorithms any more. And they know something that a company learns by driving and analyzing 60% of internet advertising: internet ads do a lousy job of branding and building desire.
Their ad was great because it explained the power of the platform through an emotionally compelling story. It related its feature set to a real life problem – achieving happiness. A bit ambitious? Maybe. But it’s a big step forward from “6 Billion Served Daily” or some other proud product boast that their technologists would have probably recommended.
It may also have something to do with Microsoft’s recent focus on radio and TV advertising for Bing. MSFT, which has learned how to be a consumer marketer while selling it’s gaming technology, is using educational radio ads to differentiate their “Decision Engine” and make Google’s category-leading Search Engine seem a little bit ordinary and utilitarian. MSFT is getting the word out to large audiences, doing it with frequency, and building a meaningful Bing brand.
Someone in marketing at Google probably took notice and spoke truth to power (Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, was once quoted as saying that brand advertising was the “last bastion of unaccountable spending in corporate America”).
It’s OK Eric, we understand you were only doing your job…
For a great story on the ad, and to see it (again), click here.
