Google woos advertisers - Promoting its Internet expertise, search giant pitches itself as agency ally

The Boston Globe Reports - As the Ocean Spray team at ad agency Arnold Worldwide squeezed into a small conference room in its Boston headquarters, Jim Norton, Google’s Boston agency team manager, plugged in his laptop. “We want to help you any way we can,’’ he said.
 
That’s a surprising pitch from Google, which fueled its spectacular growth with small ads placed by users, not professionals. But now the Internet search giant is wooing the agencies that direct the advertising budgets of the world’s largest companies.
 
In recent months, representatives like Norton, who works in Google’s Cambridge office, have been calling on agencies in Boston and around the world, trying to gain ground in major ad campaigns. They’re telling advertising professionals that Google is an ally, not a rival, in the fast-evolving world of online marketing.
 
The agencies are approaching their new suitor with caution, for the most part. The relationship with Google hasn’t always been smooth. A few years ago, Martin Sorrell, chief of WPP Group, one of the largest advertising holding companies, described Google as a frenemy, both friend and enemy.
 
Troy Kelley, chief digital officer at Arnold, freely admitted he used to consider Google a threat. “Google was Skynet,’’ he told Norton, referring to the evil artificial intelligence system in the apocalyptic “Terminator’’ movies. “Google was scary; now we’re looking to see what we can get out of a relationship.’’
 
Google is powering its charm offensive with what it believes the agencies need: online tools and instruction in the ways of Internet advertising. The company offers 19 free programs to advertisers, including Google Analytics, which measures and analyzes Internet traffic, and Ad Planner, a tool to help advertisers “identify websites that your target audience is likely to visit.’’ Last month, Google also rolled out a beta “online educational portal,’’ Agencyland, that it developed specifically for advertising agency staff training. The site features courses like “How YouTube complements Television Advertising’’ and “Google Maps and Ads.’’
 
“At this stage, we are spending a lot of time educating, showing the possibilities,’’ said Spencer Spinnell, Google’s director of agency strategy and development.
 
Google has committed a lot of human resources to its courtship campaign. The center of the ad agency outreach is based in New York, with a team of more than 40. But a significant percentage of the staff in regional offices is also focused on advertising, including about half of the company’s 200 employees in Kendall Square, where Google has its local headquarters. Those employees work the phones, helping small and mid-size companies build online ad campaigns, and offer similar assistance to advertising agencies across New England. Google teams have already established relationships with Boston ad firms such as Hill Holliday, Digitas, and Mullen.Continued...
 
 
Found:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/14/google_woos_advertisers/

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