Google Doing The Print Thing

I think all of the PPC companies are seeing big dollar signs when they think about the old media world and all of the inefficient spending in the TV, print, and radio world. Google has already purchased a company that will give them the ability to let AdWords advertisers secure radio ads. Now it looks like they are trying to get AdWords users to toss money into print ads.

Check out this is the email I got today:

Subject: Update on opportunity to participate in print advertising
auction

Hello James,

I wanted to update you on Google's ongoing auction for advertising space
in some leading print magazines, including Martha Stewart Living, PC
World, and Entrepreneur. We've recently extended the deadline for bid
submission to February 24th, 2006 to allow more advertisers to submit
their bids. As a US AdWords advertiser, you can visit
http://www.google.com/printadsauction, browse through available
publications, and bid for ad space at whatever price you'd like. If

your bid is a winner in the auction, we'll notify you and work with you
to deliver print-ready advertisements to the publishers.

At Google we're constantly trying to improve and extend our AdWords
platform in ways that best address the needs of our advertisers. From
time to time we test our ideas publicly so advertisers like you can tell
us which features and pilots should become permanent fixtures of
AdWords. We're currently looking into ways to complement the
advertising you do with us online with other media options. As a part

of that effort, we're testing the viability of an auction model in print
media.

If you have any questions about this test, please send them to
pubads-support@google.com and our dedicated team will get back to you
right away.

Best regards,

Ann Marie

The Google AdWords Team

Man, Google is really extending its reach, eh? I mean, they become the “biggest media company in the world” and the next thing you know they are an ad agency. (Mark my words, Google will purchase an ad agency in the next year.)

The sad thing is, this is all being done out of a desire to make more money, not help clients. Google is trying to take companies from the measurable ROI world of PPC to the abstract ROI world of traditional media – a media form that many would agree is ineffective and wasteful.

But hey, go Google. If you want to start down that road, more power to you. I know there are plenty of cash rich and brain cell poor marketing directors out there that will want to hop on the bandwagon.

My question is, how much money does Google have to make before they turn the “oo” into a couple of spinner rims?