"That Giant Sucking Sound"

One of the favorite lines from the 1992 presidential campaign was uttered by Ross Perot referring to the effect NAFTA would have on US jobs. It has become iconic and now stands for the effect of any large, immovable force. It's appropo to consider in light of the latest announcement from Google as its expanding it newspaper ad buying service since it launched Nov. 2006.

To me, the real story isn't necessarily about this new service. Its about the impact on creating fully electronic workflows and processes in advertising.

"Let me finish"

According to the site:

"Print Ads lets advertisers bid on ad size, space and location in several newspapers through a Web interface. The papers, which set their own pricing, approve or decline these bids. Advertisers can see electronic copies of the ads on their AdWords page after they run in print."

The electronic copy isn't interesting in and of itself for users of our Content on Demand systems, because users already have one saved in their ad library automatically after they create the ad online ...but Google is mandating that newspapers provide them an e-Tearsheet. This innocuous little detail is what's great.

Here's how Google describes it:

"e-TearsheetGoogle Print Ads uses e-tearsheets, electronic equivalents of physical tearsheets. We require publishers to submit e-tearsheets in PDF format which are then sent to advertisers as proof that the ad ran as requested. Instead of getting a tearsheet over time in the mail, you can view it in your AdWords account immediately after it's been uploaded."

My guess is that Google will soon allow advertisers to email a copy of this e-Tearsheet to third party co-op administrators who are an important link for many retail dealers for verification/auditing and reimbursement back from the manufacturer.

This little e-Tearsheet combined with web-based media buying functionality creates a totally paperless redemption process. Google market power is big enough to train newspapers to create e-Tearsheets - so at some point Newspapers will do it for every advertiser too. After all, its cheaper than tearing & mailing them. (Cue: giant vacuum sound effect)

It's an end-to-end electronic process...100% from Creation to Buying to Audit to Redemption to Reporting. Imagine the cost savings; the speed, the accountability.

That's exciting. That's the future.