Apple Hitmen & Google Bodyguards

In contrast to what Vern mentioned below about Apple replacing radio with digital media via the iPod, essentially killing radio’s advertising budget, Google recently took a step toward aiding the crippled print ad industry. Google has announced its purchase of print ad space in 50 newspapers across the country, to begin serving ads from 100 of Google’s current advertising customers.

Bully Buys You Lunch
Google AdWords is cleaning house in the advertising world; there’s no doubt about that. Google is effectively making every magazine or newspaper nervously check their wallets every minute, even though the industry has never been extremely lucrative. This could be a gesture of friendship on Google’s part, like saying “Hey, we’re all advertisers. Wanna kick it?”

Second Time’s the Ad Charm
This three month test is the second testing of such kind by Google. A year ago they attempted serving ads in magazines, such as PC Magazine. The response was slow, so the idea was scrapped. With the lower cost of newspaper advertising, this new experiment may pay off. Isn’t a Google ad nothing more than an online classified ad anyway? It’s a small box with not much writing in it. Google should buy an entire classifieds page and just serve Google ads. In Russia, online ads get served to you offline! What a country! Thank you, Yakov Smirnoff.

Hipster Silhouette DJs
Could Apple do the same with their assassination attempt? Of course! Although Apple is not in the advertising business, they certainly are in the business of serving music. Imagine, if you will, Apple sponsored radio stations (deregulation, what?) that play a wide variety of music from the iTunes catalog, in addition to Podcasts and audio feeds from otherwise unknown, online radio stations. Sure, throw in a few ads for featured artists on iTunes or new Apple products; it’d be worth it. Forget about Clear Channel, get under the Apple umbrella! Diversity to the max!

Google is doing the right thing. Although I’m not certain the newspaper ads will pay off, I hope they do. Apple should make a move as well; they could essentially get a large amount of free advertising, or break into the advertising market themselves. There, I’ve planted the seed. Now go read the funnies.