We've talked before about how the future of advertising is inextricably linked to Google - and this article in the New York Times goes into their plans in a bit more depth - it's a must read. If you're not registered use the bugmenot signin twernt.
Essentially the article talks about how Google want to take their learning on how to show someone the ideal ad each time and expand that into other media;
Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, explains the company's astounding success in advertising - and reconciles it with the founders' distrust of hucksterism - by suggesting that advertising should be interesting, relevant and useful to users. "Improving ad quality improves Google's revenue," he said in an interview at the company's headquarters, known as the Googleplex. "If we target the right ad to the right person at the right time and they click it, we win."
This proposition, he continued, is applicable to other media. "If we can figure out a way to improve the quality of ads on television with ads that have real value for end-users, we should do it," he said. While he is watching television, for example, "Why do I see women's clothing ads?" he said. "Why don't I see just men's clothing ads?"
Whilst this sort of thing might seem science fiction, other companies are already doing this on the web - DrivePm a division of Aquantive buy media in bulk from online publishers then use their data to allocate it to their advertisers - making the ads much more effective. Imagine if Google could do that for TV ads - and remember that innovations like Sky+ and IPTV are moving TV closer and closer to the PC.
One more quote from the article
In any case, there is little doubt that Mr. Schmidt believes that science will replace much of the art of marketing. "I have this fantasy that goes like this," he said at one point. "You are the C.E.O. of a large company, and I come to you and say, 'Give me $1 million and give me your Web site, and we will guarantee you will get $100 million in sales.' Which C.E.O. would turn that down?
As John Battelle points out this article was written with Googles approval, so they're keen to get further involved with the Ad Industry.
The logic is hard to argue with - we've spent our entire career trying to get the right ad in front of the right person at the right time. You should be thinking about how you can use Google now - ask your agency what they think; its a good test of whether they get it or not!
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