Thursday, April 20, 2006

Google Using Pontiac to Test TV Ad Impact on Search

Okay, by now if you live in the United States you would have had to have seen those Pontiac ads that say "Google Pontiac" with the full screen of the Google search page.

I had always thought those ads were co-op advertsing, but apparently not!

Pontiac is paying and was happy to be able to use Google's cache for this ad - as well as be part of a very innovative test of the impact of television on search.

Obviously the Call To Action is 'Search for Pontiac'. Google - who does not share info with the Department of Justice - is analysing their log files and developing data on response numbers. The ad is running everywhere and by using time of ad run in various markets they can see what television stations provide the best responses, what times, and the list is endless.

Google is a huge winner in all this. Someone is paying for the research and Google makes money on the deal too. Pontiac pays for the tv spots, and when you do the search they have also got the number one PPC ad. On top of that, Google also gets to see what lift TV ads give to search.

Hopefully the results of this test will eventually be made public. I would like to commend Pontiac and Google for testing groundbreaking relationships between the web and other media.

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