The Juggernaut called Google

Hi,

I was just reading an article on the new ad agency that Google plans to launch. Got me thinking - The way this 10 year entity is going, it will soon encompass all that is digital and will change the way we consume this media.

What has Google done:

Google Search - The largest Search Engine
GMail - E Mail service provider
G Docs - Online collaborative documents
AdWords - PPC model
Google Ad Network - Large and still growing
Google Analytics - Web page analytical tool
Gtalk - Instant Messaging
Google SNS - Orkut

What Google is doing:

GPhone: Mobile Phone
Google Search on Mobile
Google Gadgets - Widgets
Google Ad Agency

These are some of the things that I can think about... Google wants to be in all the space that an online user is. What next is the question

Maybe Google will come up with a GPaper - that will replace newspaper. It would be a tablet, that will get updated with the current news. You can create your own format and the type of news you want. Soon it will be goodbye to the newspaper boys, and the prints...

Beware, this Juggernaut on the roll is becoming unstoppable

- Santosh

oops, did i forget to mention the blogging site Google has - www.blogger.com :)

The Juggernaut called Google

Hi,

I was just reading an article on the new ad agency that Google plans to launch. Got me thinking - The way this 10 year entity is going, it will soon encompass all that is digital and will change the way we consume this media.

What has Google done:

Google Search - The largest Search Engine
GMail - E Mail service provider
G Docs - Online collaborative documents
AdWords - PPC model
Google Ad Network - Large and still growing
Google Analytics - Web page analytical tool
Gtalk - Instant Messaging
Google SNS - Orkut

What Google is doing:

GPhone: Mobile Phone
Google Search on Mobile
Google Gadgets - Widgets
Google Ad Agency

These are some of the things that I can think about... Google wants to be in all the space that an online user is. What next is the question

Maybe Google will come up with a GPaper - that will replace newspaper. It would be a tablet, that will get updated with the current news. You can create your own format and the type of news you want. Soon it will be goodbye to the newspaper boys, and the prints...

Beware, this Juggernaut on the roll is becoming unstoppable

- Santosh

oops, did i forget to mention the blogging site Google has - www.blogger.com :)

The Juggernaut called Google

Hi,

I was just reading an article on the new ad agency that Google plans to launch. Got me thinking - The way this 10 year entity is going, it will soon encompass all that is digital and will change the way we consume this media.

What has Google done:

Google Search - The largest Search Engine
GMail - E Mail service provider
G Docs - Online collaborative documents
AdWords - PPC model
Google Ad Network - Large and still growing
Google Analytics - Web page analytical tool
Gtalk - Instant Messaging
Google SNS - Orkut

What Google is doing:

GPhone: Mobile Phone
Google Search on Mobile
Google Gadgets - Widgets
Google Ad Agency

These are some of the things that I can think about... Google wants to be in all the space that an online user is. What next is the question

Maybe Google will come up with a GPaper - that will replace newspaper. It would be a tablet, that will get updated with the current news. You can create your own format and the type of news you want. Soon it will be goodbye to the newspaper boys, and the prints...

Beware, this Juggernaut on the roll is becoming unstoppable

- Santosh

oops, did i forget to mention the blogging site Google has - www.blogger.com :)

Hutch is now Vodafone - Advertising

I was keenly waiting for the change of name advertising of Hutch to Vodafone. The Media and agency circles were abuzz with the media innovation of Roadblock on Star Network for 24 Hrs.

Well, honestly, I did not find any media innovation, except for the fact that the media agency has picked up all the available ad inventories for one day.

The creative was by any standard mediocre. Not an O&M ad...:(

Well it has been a long journey for this telcom service provider in India... from Max-Orange-Hutch-Vodafone.

I was disappointed. Hope they have some good digital innovation in terms of re-branding on the Internet and Mobile space

Cheers

Santosh

Hutch is now Vodafone - Advertising

I was keenly waiting for the change of name advertising of Hutch to Vodafone. The Media and agency circles were abuzz with the media innovation of Roadblock on Star Network for 24 Hrs.

Well, honestly, I did not find any media innovation, except for the fact that the media agency has picked up all the available ad inventories for one day.

The creative was by any standard mediocre. Not an O&M ad...:(

Well it has been a long journey for this telcom service provider in India... from Max-Orange-Hutch-Vodafone.

I was disappointed. Hope they have some good digital innovation in terms of re-branding on the Internet and Mobile space

Cheers

Santosh

Hutch is now Vodafone - Advertising

I was keenly waiting for the change of name advertising of Hutch to Vodafone. The Media and agency circles were abuzz with the media innovation of Roadblock on Star Network for 24 Hrs.

Well, honestly, I did not find any media innovation, except for the fact that the media agency has picked up all the available ad inventories for one day.

The creative was by any standard mediocre. Not an O&M ad...:(

Well it has been a long journey for this telcom service provider in India... from Max-Orange-Hutch-Vodafone.

I was disappointed. Hope they have some good digital innovation in terms of re-branding on the Internet and Mobile space

Cheers

Santosh

Google Creates Creative Lab; Launches Widget Ads

as appeared in Paidcontent.org

Andy Berndt, co-president of Ogilvy & Mather in New York, is departing the WPP Group agency after eight years to head up a new global marketing unit at Google (NSDQ: GOOG), AdAge reported. The new unit is described as a lab focusing on “innovation” and dedicated to finding ways advertisers, agencies and entertainment companies can intersect.

Before his tenure at Ogilvy, Berndt helped create ads for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) at Weiden & Kennedy. After that, he went to TBWA/Chiat/Day and was the account executive on Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) “Think Different” campaign.

-- Adweek: Citing a Google representative, the new unit is called Google Creative Lab and Berndt will be its first managing director. As described in the Adweek article, Berndt will oversee the marketing of Google’s brand and services, and strike deals with agencies to use Google’s products as part of their campaigns.

-- WSJ: Berndt’s hiring is likely to unnerve some on Madison Avenue, who may worry that Google intends to get into creative services (the task of designing ads), which is the ad industry’s bread and butter. A Google spokeswoman said the company was “not moving into the ad agency business” and wouldn’t work with marketers directly.

In related news, Google will provide tools for advertisers to run widget (Google insists on calling it Gadgets) ads in Google’s AdSense network...meaning its advertisers can run ads within their specially branded widgets that iGoogle users can place on their Google homepage. More here.

Santosh

Google Creates Creative Lab; Launches Widget Ads

as appeared in Paidcontent.org

Andy Berndt, co-president of Ogilvy & Mather in New York, is departing the WPP Group agency after eight years to head up a new global marketing unit at Google (NSDQ: GOOG), AdAge reported. The new unit is described as a lab focusing on “innovation” and dedicated to finding ways advertisers, agencies and entertainment companies can intersect.

Before his tenure at Ogilvy, Berndt helped create ads for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) at Weiden & Kennedy. After that, he went to TBWA/Chiat/Day and was the account executive on Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) “Think Different” campaign.

-- Adweek: Citing a Google representative, the new unit is called Google Creative Lab and Berndt will be its first managing director. As described in the Adweek article, Berndt will oversee the marketing of Google’s brand and services, and strike deals with agencies to use Google’s products as part of their campaigns.

-- WSJ: Berndt’s hiring is likely to unnerve some on Madison Avenue, who may worry that Google intends to get into creative services (the task of designing ads), which is the ad industry’s bread and butter. A Google spokeswoman said the company was “not moving into the ad agency business” and wouldn’t work with marketers directly.

In related news, Google will provide tools for advertisers to run widget (Google insists on calling it Gadgets) ads in Google’s AdSense network...meaning its advertisers can run ads within their specially branded widgets that iGoogle users can place on their Google homepage. More here.

Santosh

Google Creates Creative Lab; Launches Widget Ads

as appeared in Paidcontent.org

Andy Berndt, co-president of Ogilvy & Mather in New York, is departing the WPP Group agency after eight years to head up a new global marketing unit at Google (NSDQ: GOOG), AdAge reported. The new unit is described as a lab focusing on “innovation” and dedicated to finding ways advertisers, agencies and entertainment companies can intersect.

Before his tenure at Ogilvy, Berndt helped create ads for Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) at Weiden & Kennedy. After that, he went to TBWA/Chiat/Day and was the account executive on Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL) “Think Different” campaign.

-- Adweek: Citing a Google representative, the new unit is called Google Creative Lab and Berndt will be its first managing director. As described in the Adweek article, Berndt will oversee the marketing of Google’s brand and services, and strike deals with agencies to use Google’s products as part of their campaigns.

-- WSJ: Berndt’s hiring is likely to unnerve some on Madison Avenue, who may worry that Google intends to get into creative services (the task of designing ads), which is the ad industry’s bread and butter. A Google spokeswoman said the company was “not moving into the ad agency business” and wouldn’t work with marketers directly.

In related news, Google will provide tools for advertisers to run widget (Google insists on calling it Gadgets) ads in Google’s AdSense network...meaning its advertisers can run ads within their specially branded widgets that iGoogle users can place on their Google homepage. More here.

Santosh

IAMAI – Wake up and smell the coffee

I was there at Intercontinental, Delhi for the IAMAI summit. This is the first IAMAI summit I attended. My reaction – let us learn to brew the coffee, before we talk about smelling it.

Maybe I am a die hard digital fan… following are some of my views on the seminar and a few thoughts on what we can do –

1) If IAMAI is looking at being the torchbearer of the internet and digital marketing in India, then this seminar had to be an online seminar. You cannot tom-tom about the greatness of your convictions, unless you put it into practice. It would have been the first of its kind of seminar in India had the whole thing be conducted online.

2) Digital Marketing is NOT Internet Marketing… please someone explain this FACT to the people who matter.

3) If we are to address the core issues - Why is there no proper audit conducted on the websites? A Comscore or eABC audit would give credence to all what we say about impressions and unique visitors etc

4) On creativity – we say this is the only audio visual media that is also interactive in nature. Publishers/ agencies are talking about the immense possibilities of what can be created and done in this space. They go on to give some great examples of what Nike had done in Germany or XYZ had done in the US markets. But, where are the Indian creatives??

5) Main concern with regard to the point 4 is that – most publishers do say that they accept shoshkeles, eyeblaster, rich media creatives etc… provided they are less than 20 KB, under 15 Sec, and in a particular format…

And as Sam Balsara, of Madison, pointed out, until we go out and meet and evangelize to people that matters, online advertising in India would always have a smallest pie of the ad revenues.

So long as there is no authenticity in the figures we speak, so long as the creativity is not stifled by the ad formats and file sizes, so long as we do not have substantial broadband connections, so long as we do not reach the critical mass in terms of number of Internet users.. We shall smell the coffee, but, we prefer to taste tea

Cheers

Santosh

IAMAI – Wake up and smell the coffee

I was there at Intercontinental, Delhi for the IAMAI summit. This is the first IAMAI summit I attended. My reaction – let us learn to brew the coffee, before we talk about smelling it.

Maybe I am a die hard digital fan… following are some of my views on the seminar and a few thoughts on what we can do –

1) If IAMAI is looking at being the torchbearer of the internet and digital marketing in India, then this seminar had to be an online seminar. You cannot tom-tom about the greatness of your convictions, unless you put it into practice. It would have been the first of its kind of seminar in India had the whole thing be conducted online.

2) Digital Marketing is NOT Internet Marketing… please someone explain this FACT to the people who matter.

3) If we are to address the core issues - Why is there no proper audit conducted on the websites? A Comscore or eABC audit would give credence to all what we say about impressions and unique visitors etc

4) On creativity – we say this is the only audio visual media that is also interactive in nature. Publishers/ agencies are talking about the immense possibilities of what can be created and done in this space. They go on to give some great examples of what Nike had done in Germany or XYZ had done in the US markets. But, where are the Indian creatives??

5) Main concern with regard to the point 4 is that – most publishers do say that they accept shoshkeles, eyeblaster, rich media creatives etc… provided they are less than 20 KB, under 15 Sec, and in a particular format…

And as Sam Balsara, of Madison, pointed out, until we go out and meet and evangelize to people that matters, online advertising in India would always have a smallest pie of the ad revenues.

So long as there is no authenticity in the figures we speak, so long as the creativity is not stifled by the ad formats and file sizes, so long as we do not have substantial broadband connections, so long as we do not reach the critical mass in terms of number of Internet users.. We shall smell the coffee, but, we prefer to taste tea

Cheers

Santosh

IAMAI – Wake up and smell the coffee

I was there at Intercontinental, Delhi for the IAMAI summit. This is the first IAMAI summit I attended. My reaction – let us learn to brew the coffee, before we talk about smelling it.

Maybe I am a die hard digital fan… following are some of my views on the seminar and a few thoughts on what we can do –

1) If IAMAI is looking at being the torchbearer of the internet and digital marketing in India, then this seminar had to be an online seminar. You cannot tom-tom about the greatness of your convictions, unless you put it into practice. It would have been the first of its kind of seminar in India had the whole thing be conducted online.

2) Digital Marketing is NOT Internet Marketing… please someone explain this FACT to the people who matter.

3) If we are to address the core issues - Why is there no proper audit conducted on the websites? A Comscore or eABC audit would give credence to all what we say about impressions and unique visitors etc

4) On creativity – we say this is the only audio visual media that is also interactive in nature. Publishers/ agencies are talking about the immense possibilities of what can be created and done in this space. They go on to give some great examples of what Nike had done in Germany or XYZ had done in the US markets. But, where are the Indian creatives??

5) Main concern with regard to the point 4 is that – most publishers do say that they accept shoshkeles, eyeblaster, rich media creatives etc… provided they are less than 20 KB, under 15 Sec, and in a particular format…

And as Sam Balsara, of Madison, pointed out, until we go out and meet and evangelize to people that matters, online advertising in India would always have a smallest pie of the ad revenues.

So long as there is no authenticity in the figures we speak, so long as the creativity is not stifled by the ad formats and file sizes, so long as we do not have substantial broadband connections, so long as we do not reach the critical mass in terms of number of Internet users.. We shall smell the coffee, but, we prefer to taste tea

Cheers

Santosh

Bitching about a Pitch

Hi..

Been a bad day so far....

Went for an 'integrated' pitch. The client is a FMCG major in India.

We had 3 concepts for digital. Unfortunately, we had only 10 Mins to go through our presentation.

Bad... people talk at length about the youth being online, social networking, IMs etc, etc, etc... but the majority for the focus of the advertising campaign is led offline - through print and TV. 10 Minutes for 3 concepts... I guess I need to master the art of Elevator Selling.

Can Online make a substantial impact on the marketers campaign focus?

What would it take to make the marketers and advertisers take note of the Internet, as a lead medium for their marketing strategy. A 100 Million users? or more specific and credible data on the demography, or maybe how they consume this medium.

I am searching for these answers... till then, I will think that Internet is a child of lesser god.

Started the week on a wrong note. Hope tomorrow is better.

Amen

Santosh

Bitching about a Pitch

Hi..

Been a bad day so far....

Went for an 'integrated' pitch. The client is a FMCG major in India.

We had 3 concepts for digital. Unfortunately, we had only 10 Mins to go through our presentation.

Bad... people talk at length about the youth being online, social networking, IMs etc, etc, etc... but the majority for the focus of the advertising campaign is led offline - through print and TV. 10 Minutes for 3 concepts... I guess I need to master the art of Elevator Selling.

Can Online make a substantial impact on the marketers campaign focus?

What would it take to make the marketers and advertisers take note of the Internet, as a lead medium for their marketing strategy. A 100 Million users? or more specific and credible data on the demography, or maybe how they consume this medium.

I am searching for these answers... till then, I will think that Internet is a child of lesser god.

Started the week on a wrong note. Hope tomorrow is better.

Amen

Santosh

Bitching about a Pitch

Hi..

Been a bad day so far....

Went for an 'integrated' pitch. The client is a FMCG major in India.

We had 3 concepts for digital. Unfortunately, we had only 10 Mins to go through our presentation.

Bad... people talk at length about the youth being online, social networking, IMs etc, etc, etc... but the majority for the focus of the advertising campaign is led offline - through print and TV. 10 Minutes for 3 concepts... I guess I need to master the art of Elevator Selling.

Can Online make a substantial impact on the marketers campaign focus?

What would it take to make the marketers and advertisers take note of the Internet, as a lead medium for their marketing strategy. A 100 Million users? or more specific and credible data on the demography, or maybe how they consume this medium.

I am searching for these answers... till then, I will think that Internet is a child of lesser god.

Started the week on a wrong note. Hope tomorrow is better.

Amen

Santosh

A Digital Strategy

Hi,

It is quite funny to know that though 'Digital' is the most happening thing in the advertising world... it is usually left at the end of the pitch. After hours of gazing at agency presentation, the facts, figures, research findings, and then the big Idea - how it looks on print and TV.... Internet/Digital marketing is left at the end.

Clients all want to be in the digital space.. Why ?? If it is an MNC - then their counterparts or parent company are doing a lot of great stuff on the Internet.. hence India should not be left behind. Or if it is an Indian company - they have to be online, because the companies in the west are online... and there should be some reason why they are online.

None of the clients, I have met, ever have a digital strategy in place... The whole digital presence, are offshoots of some tactic.. with minimal exposure on the Internet. It is funny to note - I had asked a client, during a presentation, what the company digital strategy was? the reply - "We want people to visit our website." Whosoever is their digital ad agency, must be having a great time... doing nothing :)

While the Internet universe in India is not large, so as to compete with other media... Internet reaches to the people who matters. I know for sure, most of the journalists are online, and they are on the look out for news. If I were to do a campaign online, it would reach out to this community of writers, of which some maybe more keen to peruse the matter, and ultimately it would lead to a story and thus a news article..

Internet, can also be the source for word of mouth. It can deliver information on real-time, and the person reading it can become a source of information dispenser.

Part of the blame lies with ad agencies too. As there is no much monies involved in the digital space now, the same is not pro-actively suggested to the client. If i were to compare Advertising process/activities to the human digestive system (The end result is Exact - atleast in most of the cases), then digital marketing is like the Appendix - you can live with it or even without it...

I hope to see a day soon, when the pitch would start with the digital marketing, and how all the other marketing activities are encircled to the digital core...

The day is not far off..

Till then... I shall believe that the best is saved for the last - Viva Digital Marketing

Best,

Santosh

A Digital Strategy

Hi,

It is quite funny to know that though 'Digital' is the most happening thing in the advertising world... it is usually left at the end of the pitch. After hours of gazing at agency presentation, the facts, figures, research findings, and then the big Idea - how it looks on print and TV.... Internet/Digital marketing is left at the end.

Clients all want to be in the digital space.. Why ?? If it is an MNC - then their counterparts or parent company are doing a lot of great stuff on the Internet.. hence India should not be left behind. Or if it is an Indian company - they have to be online, because the companies in the west are online... and there should be some reason why they are online.

None of the clients, I have met, ever have a digital strategy in place... The whole digital presence, are offshoots of some tactic.. with minimal exposure on the Internet. It is funny to note - I had asked a client, during a presentation, what the company digital strategy was? the reply - "We want people to visit our website." Whosoever is their digital ad agency, must be having a great time... doing nothing :)

While the Internet universe in India is not large, so as to compete with other media... Internet reaches to the people who matters. I know for sure, most of the journalists are online, and they are on the look out for news. If I were to do a campaign online, it would reach out to this community of writers, of which some maybe more keen to peruse the matter, and ultimately it would lead to a story and thus a news article..

Internet, can also be the source for word of mouth. It can deliver information on real-time, and the person reading it can become a source of information dispenser.

Part of the blame lies with ad agencies too. As there is no much monies involved in the digital space now, the same is not pro-actively suggested to the client. If i were to compare Advertising process/activities to the human digestive system (The end result is Exact - atleast in most of the cases), then digital marketing is like the Appendix - you can live with it or even without it...

I hope to see a day soon, when the pitch would start with the digital marketing, and how all the other marketing activities are encircled to the digital core...

The day is not far off..

Till then... I shall believe that the best is saved for the last - Viva Digital Marketing

Best,

Santosh

A Digital Strategy

Hi,

It is quite funny to know that though 'Digital' is the most happening thing in the advertising world... it is usually left at the end of the pitch. After hours of gazing at agency presentation, the facts, figures, research findings, and then the big Idea - how it looks on print and TV.... Internet/Digital marketing is left at the end.

Clients all want to be in the digital space.. Why ?? If it is an MNC - then their counterparts or parent company are doing a lot of great stuff on the Internet.. hence India should not be left behind. Or if it is an Indian company - they have to be online, because the companies in the west are online... and there should be some reason why they are online.

None of the clients, I have met, ever have a digital strategy in place... The whole digital presence, are offshoots of some tactic.. with minimal exposure on the Internet. It is funny to note - I had asked a client, during a presentation, what the company digital strategy was? the reply - "We want people to visit our website." Whosoever is their digital ad agency, must be having a great time... doing nothing :)

While the Internet universe in India is not large, so as to compete with other media... Internet reaches to the people who matters. I know for sure, most of the journalists are online, and they are on the look out for news. If I were to do a campaign online, it would reach out to this community of writers, of which some maybe more keen to peruse the matter, and ultimately it would lead to a story and thus a news article..

Internet, can also be the source for word of mouth. It can deliver information on real-time, and the person reading it can become a source of information dispenser.

Part of the blame lies with ad agencies too. As there is no much monies involved in the digital space now, the same is not pro-actively suggested to the client. If i were to compare Advertising process/activities to the human digestive system (The end result is Exact - atleast in most of the cases), then digital marketing is like the Appendix - you can live with it or even without it...

I hope to see a day soon, when the pitch would start with the digital marketing, and how all the other marketing activities are encircled to the digital core...

The day is not far off..

Till then... I shall believe that the best is saved for the last - Viva Digital Marketing

Best,

Santosh