cameron peron

So what does the Google/Publicis deal mean for offline media?  The deal could make Publicis one of the biggest innovators in bridging the disconnection between offline and online media.  Imagine a media company that size seamlessly leveraging their core client and creative assets in a new distribution channel.  Of course it could be one of the worst attempts for a traditional media company to reinvent themselves as an online player. :)

Lips sealed.  No one seems to know the valuation of the deal was, since Google finalized the sale on Sept. 10.  This already raises a few eyebrows as to Publicis’s real confidence in the purchase.  Measuring the investment of their newly acquired SEO rich affiliate network – as means to beef up their online marketing activities and presence is still very much an internal issue.

Offline media and performance marketing don’t mix.  It’s understandable that offline agencies from big to small don’t mess with performance marketing – it’s simply not their business.  The giants on Madison Ave. know how to negotiate enormous budgets and build brand campaigns.  Meanwhile, CPA and CPC pricing models are driving traditional impression based CPM models down on the aggregate… primarily from the explosive growth in traffic sourced from search engines and content rich publishers.  Despite this, there is always going to be a demand for brand driven advertisers who measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns against massive scales of revenue.

If it’s about branding, then Publicis’s bet may actually pay off. As we all ready know, the real purchase value of Performics comes from it’s advantage in SEO.  This asset combined with their already active search marketing activities – could be extremely lucrative combination for large brand oriented clients.  If you want to look at  a real risk in offline media take a look at CBS.  In their attempt to buy Internet in the last few months, they gambled on huge properties like CNET for $1.8 billion and LastFM for $280 million among others.  Time will tell if and how it will pay off.

At best it will redefine the industry. If the results are good, than large and small advertisers might soon follow.  Better still, this deal stands to legitimize SEO’s shady background by powerful market and economic forces in mass… making SEO and search marketing just another department in both large and small agencies.

To make it happen Publicis and other traditional media companies might consider following the likes of other bold moves and mistakes of acquisitions past.  Seriously.  Look at Yahoo! exodus of executives since the Microsoft deal went down, or is still going through… or whatever status it remains at.   Lack of top level competence from Publicis as well as a growing pains in corporate culture and job security can easily cause key management players an even entire company divisions to walk.

The ability of traditional media to make a successful bid with online media – lies not just in making wise acquisitions but in their management and optimization of a channel they are just beginning to understand.