Google at an all time high

On Friday Google’s stock reached a new high placing a valuation of about $175B. Hopefully the people I told not to buy the stock at $100 have already forgotten about my “brilliant” advice…

Google steps into Rich Media and Brand Advertising

Google made two very interesting announcements this week that are closely connected. One is about a new ad product that they launched – Google Gadgets- which is Google’s entry into rich media ads. Rich media ads is a general label used for ads that are usually dynamic in nature (animated gifs, flash, video, etc.) and fairly large (250×250 and above). Advertisers and agencies will be able to create such gadget ads using the Google platform and the “twist” is that these are not just regular rich media, but actually gadgets, meaning that users can interact with the ads right on the page where the ad is presented. So what’s the big deal? Well, for a company with a mission statement of organizing the world’s information, doing rich media ads is a bit far from what one would perceive as the core focus, even if they are rich media ads with a twist. Google introduced ads with the promise that they will be so relevant and useful for the user, that they will as good as information. Truth be told, Google’s search ads that appear next to the search results are useful and I find myself clicking on them quite often. I also find the AdSenseads useful at times when they match the content that I’m reading. Another move that fits very well with Google’s agency / branding strategy is the hiring of an ex-Ogilvy executive.
What does it all mean? I guess the obvious… Google needs to maintain its growth and can’t ignore the high CPMs that the brand agencies are looking to pay. In order to cater to that segment they will need to continue to create products and services that take it further away from its core mission and much closer to Madison avenue.
BTW – Amazon.com’s associates program has recently released their own gadgets that publishers can customize and place on their site.