Google tests new ad gadget
2007-09-20 11:17
New York - Google plans to significantly expand its test of a new advertising format, dubbed "Gadget Ads", that it says will allow advertisers to engage with consumers to a degree not previously possible.
The ads, which are small software programs known as "gadgets" or "widgets," can incorporate real-time data feeds, images and video.
As such, advertisers can mingle their pitches with all sorts of content that could interest prospective customers, potentially keeping their attention longer than would be likely with a standard ad.
For example, Honda promoted its Civic hybrid vehicle with a Gadget Ad that sponsored the popular band Fall Out Boy and its summer tour.
The ad used backstage video from the tour, let fans pose questions to the band and provided information about the band as well as the car.
Honda encouraged people to add the gadget to their homepages, which let them continue to send the band questions and later view the band's video responses.
Cost-per-link
"It's no longer about just buying an ad and having one impression," says Christian Oestlien, the business product manager in charge of the new ad type at Google. "They interact with your brand on a daily basis."
Google plans to show the Gadget Ads on publisher sites in its Adsense advertising network and to sell them at prices set in online auction, as is the case with most of its ad types.
Advertisers will be able to pay either on cost-per-click or cost-per-impression bases, Google said. The ads can be targeted to certain types of consumers based on site, geography and demographic characteristics. Google is testing ways to adapt the ads based on site context, Oestlien said.
Consumers will also be able to share the gadgets with each other and embed them on personal web pages like iGoogle, a homepage that people can customise with content feeds and other Google gadgets for displaying things like news, e-mail, weather data and photos.
Tested on more than 50 advertisers
Advertisers could make specialised versions of the gadgets for large social-networking sites like those of Facebook and News Corporation's MySpace, which have their own widget platforms.
"We want to promote the Gadget Ads ecosystem," Oestlien said. "What we love about this creative format is it empowers agencies and advertisers to create what we call truly useful advertising."
Google had been testing the ads with a limited group of more than 50 advertisers in the US, Germany, the UK, Brazil and Japan - including Pepsi, Intel and Six Flags - who were clients of several top advertising agencies.
The expanded test will include a bigger set of mostly large advertisers. When the product is launched, which Oestlien said would be "as soon as possible," it will be available in 20 languages and more than 100 countries.
- Dow Jones