Do you really need to pay that much for advertising anymore? Why not just create a viral campaign or a YouTube video. Of course you’ll need to spend some money to create the campaign and get the initial traffic going, but if you do it wisely you don’t need to spend nearly as much as you would on TV. Big advertisers like P&G are learning how to spend money online wisely, and their learning by working with and at Google.
Both companies had something to gain. Mountain View-based Google controls 74 percent of “search term†advertising spending, the Journal reported, citing the research firm eMarketer Inc. Meanwhile, Cincinnati-based P&G ranked as the nation’s largest advertiser in 2007, having spent $5.2 billion compared with $4.9 billion in 2006, according to Advertising Age magazine.
Among the revelations for P&G workers: Google data revealed that online searches for the word “coupons†rose about 50 percent in a 12-month period, according to the Journal.
P&G regularly offers pamphlets of coupons for its products through its Brand Saver newspaper insert.