Back Seat Marketers

Google’s growth in PPC ads is still gaining share v. the competition. Yahoo! appears to be testing the idea of partially throwing in the towel, but wants to keep options open.

More surprising, the growth rate of PPC ad is expected to be 23% in 2008. I’ve bought into the idea that online ad share v. traditional media is not proportionally correct and should shift dramatically, like double from where it is at. With less than 10% share of the overall ad market, online advertising isn’t growing as fast as it seems like it could.

Advertisers don’t seem to be easily going away from the tried and true version of traditional media campaigns to less chartered waters. In the internet world, are there [non-tech] brands that have grown on mostly interactive media? Without concrete poster children, proving to the majors that the media mix should go in a new direction, it won’t.

In all of this talk of interactive v. traditional, let’s step back. 1:1 marketing is value creating in ways that traditional media isn’t. Creating virtuous cycles by fostering conversations with consumers is how brands will win in a people as marketing message world.

How does Yahoo! create *unique* value for those that aren’t more aggressively integrating online ads? They could:

• Prove that the US population is using the internet (seriously, many still doubt it)
• Partner, buy or merge with a major advertising agency and become a force on Madison Ave.
• Approach advertisers with PPC media buys in a way that feels like traditional media
• Integrate more seamlessly with traditional media campaigns in terms of timing and branding
• Get a case study on how branding and sales are grown - prove that it works beyond just getting people signed up
• Create and leverage centers of content excellence that advertisers will want to associate with

Frankly, AOL and Microsoft don’t improve Yahoo’s chances in being more unique when compared to Google, do they?