Debating Whether or Not Google Can Change Advertising

In last few years, I've had enough interaction with Google to understand that for them, marketing is considered a necessary evil. There's a lot of "soft", undefinable aspects to marketing, that can't be distilled into a simple, clean algorithm. This is thinking that is largely foreign to the Google frame of mind. Google loves mathematical simplicity and definition. Two plus two should always equal four. The question shouldn't be up for debate. But marketing is not that simple, not that clean, not that black-and-white. There's a lot of gray in marketing.

Ari makes the point that Google doesn't understand advertising. This is largely right. Google is an engineering company. It exists to apply technology to solve problems. If you look at the makeup of the Google organization, their own marketing department is a small, under resourced afterthought. Because they didn't need to use advertising, the philosophy is that really is not necessary for anyone. As Google steps into advertising, think of them as Mr. Spock, reluctantly doing a stint as a Madison Avenue ad exec (now that's an idea for a sitcom).

Ultimately, it's not Google or Madison Avenue that will have the last word in this debate. It's you and me and 6 billion (and counting) other consumers. There is an old world and the new world in marketing. And the former is rapidly giving way to the latter. The wild card in all this is the changing game of marketing. Sure, Google may not understand the "warm fuzzies" of marketing, those undefinable aspects of brand engagement, but what Google does understand is connecting users with what they're looking for. And do we really need advertising that hits us at a visceral and an emotional level, when it's exactly the advertising we're looking for anyway? It doesn't have to hammer us over the head with its message, because we're openly receptive to that message, we're seeking it. As Google moves into print, cable, and radio it may not be that their lack of understanding of the current reality of marketing that will hold them back for making it successful. It may be the fact that those channels just don't lend themselves very well to this new idea of consumer empowerment. Consumer empowerment is expressed much more easily over the interactive platform of the Internet. The Internet is the next evolution of marketing. The question will be more if Google can make a significant inroad into these more traditional channels before the channels become integrated within interactive, Web driven platform. Or will there be just too much friction to overcome?

Found an error or have a suggestion? Let us know and we'll review it.