Selling Tide, and text ads

Analysis
Nov 20, 20082 mins

Vnunet reports that Google and consumer products heavyweight Procter & Gamble have traded some staffers

in order glean advertising know-how from each other. For P&G, the goal was to figure out how best to leverage the “new” world of online search and advertising, while Google hoped to get more insight into how to snag–and keep–big ad spenders like P&G. It’s sort of like Mad Men meets the Internet.

The exchange program, called the P&G Google Exchange, started in January, well before the current economic crisis came to a head. Still, it shows that the ad/sales gurus are looking ahead–both in terms of technology and customer retention. P&G has long been the ultimate ad maker and spender, known primarily for its TV ads for such stalwart brands as Bounty and Tide. P&G realizes that older ad channels can only take it so far, however, especially in the under-30 demographic that tends to Tivo through TV ads and spends far more time on line than in front of the tube. As P&G transitions to the Web, Google would love to be the primary recipient of its widespread ad largesse.

What’s interesting is the staff exchange ratio. Google sent just three staffers to P&G, while P&G sent 20 staffers to Google. So who had the most to learn? It will be interesting to see if P&G puts its ads and money where its staff went.