Google’s relentless march to take over the world has been well documented in this column. Its always amusing to see which industry Google’s is going to take apart next, that is until you find out it’s the one you’re in!

Its recent acquisition of DoubleClick signals its intention get into traditional advertising.

Of course, Google has been in the advertising industry ever since its float. But till now it was only into text advertising (AdWords) on the increasing number of big hitting sites it owns and those who rent screen real estate to them.

DoubleClick, however, control one of the largest networks of banner ad space, using the has a network of independent sites that allow it traditional 'display' advertising model, where brands pay for their graphical ads to be pasted on websites, like posters on billboards.

Despite this display model falling out of favour with product advertisers, Google still paid $3.1 billion for the DoubleClick network!

Surfers are an increasingly suspicious breed and are very precious with their clicks. No matter how tempting the offer seems, most of us wouldn’t waste a click to find more out and we certainly don’t want to be taken away from the site we have chosen to read to find out how amazing a washing powder can be.

Display also represents a big sacrifice for website owners too who really want hard won visitors to stay with their content and build up their own subscriber base.

Other forms of online display advertising, such as pop-ups and overlays (more accurately known as interruptive advertising), are also now very unpopular as most of us find them extremely annoying and take advantage of browser technology to filter them out!

So why is Google getting into the display market?

Well, recently rich media banner advertising has found favour with brand marketers who are not looking for click-through but are after exposure for their labels. Rich media involves using Flash and streaming video to grab surfers’ attention, allowing them to interact with the brand without committing themselves to a click.

Also AdWords only reaches people who know what they want and are actively looking for something you can provide. They are susceptible to brand advertising even when they are not.

In an attempt to counter Google’s intrusion onto its patch, advertising giant The WPP Group, have reacted by announcing plans to buy online ad company 24/7 Real Media for $649 million in cash!

This is an equally diverse purchase as actually owning advertising space, albeit on the web, is a different business to creating and selling ads, WPP’s traditional line of work.

Should the two leviathans meet head to head I know who will win - Google! Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, obviously sees it differently. He says he now regards Google as a 'fenemy' and hoped Google regard WPP as the same, whatever that means in advertising speak!


Chris is managing director of Internet consultancy WAA WebXpress. This and other unedited articles can be found at www.webxpress.com. E-mail chris@webxpress.com

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