From Advertising Age – Full story here
Google Stocks Up on Print and Outdoor Ads for Privacy-Focused Campaign
‘Good to Know’ Will Run in USA Today, Wall Street Journal and The Economist
and digital that focuses on online privacy and how the company uses
personal data.
is already slated to run in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The
Economist. The campaign is minimalist, featuring simple drawings and
small text on a white background. The take-away of one ad is that
Google’s search engine can predict whether someone is searching for a Volkswagen
Beetle or the actual insect, based on whether they’ve recently been
searching for cars. It then directs people to a site "to find out more
about how Google uses information to make the web more useful."
The "Good to Know" campaign is an important branding effort for Google as internet users’ concerns about how their personal data is used continue to mount.
In the ads, Google seeks to tell consumers that there’s a value
exchange and that they reap benefits, such as more-personalized search
results, in return for the company’s knowledge of their search history
Google has become a high-profile marketer, launching three TV ads
featuring the Muppets and NBA announcer Bill Walton in late December to
promote Google+ and its group-chat functionality, "Hangouts." It’s a
far cry from the company’s attitude nearly two years ago, when former
CEO Eric Schmidt tweeted, "Hell has indeed frozen over" after Google
bought its first-ever TV ad during the Super Bowl.
The company invested significantly more in advertising
in 2011 than it ever had before. It had spent $103 million on TV, print
and online display ads as of August, compared to $53 million for all of
2010, according to Kantar Media.
The "Good to Know" campaign has already run in the U.K. and Germany.
The Print Observer - Newspaper & Magazine Advertising Insights 