Stalking Rarely Spotted Google VP Who Reveals He’s Selling Print

A conference in icy Chicago last month provided a delicious opportunity to ensnare a major Internet exec—and probe his opinions about the print medium. The target of this editor’s hunting expedition was one Tim Armstrong, VP advertising for Google’s North American ad sales teams.

Finding my editorial prey was not overly challenging, for Armstrong was among the keynote speakers at last month’s Retail Advertising Conference, a wonderful event populated by marketing managers who visited print and media technology exhibits during energy breaks. Clutching my complimentary RR Donnelley briefcase filled with tchotchkes and printed giveaways, I spotted Barb Moss, senior sales director for Arcade Marketing, with Damon Frugoli, VP digital technology for Lehigh Direct, as they offered samples of freshly printed chocolate chip cookies—convincingly aromatic, though made of paper.

It was a timely demo, just after a media consultant spoke on marketing vehicles that connect to all senses (sight, touch, aroma, sound, taste). Print scores well here, too, including recent offerings in lively musical greeting cards and tasty inkjetted Pringles. In her afternoon address, “Overcoming the Challenge of Media Fragmentation,” Vertis chief strategy officer Ann Raider profiled print’s dominating role in marketing. One of her PowerPoint slides so convincingly conveys print’s leadership, I am offering it to anyone who clicks this hyperlink at graphicartsmonthly.com. (Or e-mail me for a copy.)

Google’s Armstrong led the audience through his firm’s ability to integrate multi-platform media efforts. He said online tests draw responses to promotions in real time, sufficiently quickly to adjust related print promotions to boost their effect.

During a question and answer period, a GAM correspondent (yours truly) asked about Google’s recent foray into selling print ads. Armstrong departed from his script and surprised the audience, recounting details of what he called “one of the most successful tests we have done” as he recounted Google’s move to selling print. The idea that Google has put feet on the street to sell ads may sound so 20th century, but the fact is the firm’s rapidly dwindling supply of search terms (all the best ones, “tickets,” “books,” “cars” and “ladies lingerie” ) are being bid up to prices beyond what small local firms can pay.

This development prompted Google to sell “offline” media—relics known as “print ads” back in the day—as well as TV and radio. In November, Google let advertisers go online and bid on ad inventory at The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer, and Tribune, Gannett, and McClatchy newspapers. Armstrong himself knows the ad business, having served as director of integrated sales at ABC/ESPN Internet Ventures across TV, radio, and print. So how does Armstrong’s posse like selling print ads? “We see this promising to connect marketer silos. And we think this is a very viable market.”

Google is also known in print circles for its ambitious digitizing project, using specialized high speed scanners from Kirtas to scan public domain books and those from willing publishers and libraries. Armstrong expressed Google’s angst over the tiny dent it has made in the world’s cache of information—170 terabytes cataloged, 5 billion terabytes to go!

Armstrong noted that 80% of 91 million daily Google searches originate outside the U.S. These links to the world online drive commerce of all types, ultimately even to U.S. printers. Given the increasing emphasis on sustainable business practices, especially by European- and Japanese-based multinationals, printers will do well to measure and document their carbon footprints. This month we celebrate the burgeoning awareness by U.S. printers and paper companies of options for preserving the environment, and for branding their firms as responsible agents of sustainable practices.

bill.esler@reedbusiness.com