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Google, Madison Avenue Enjoy New Working Arrangement

Google finally needs Madison Avenue--well, sort of. The search giant is famous for its groundbreaking ad platform, from which it has gleaned billions. But it's equally famous for never having spent a dime on advertising. Well, it's still not spending a dime on advertising, but it is partnering with ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners to work on a project for client Saturn of Irving, Texas. The project, which begins today, is a test of a campaign for Saturn's Aura, bundling together several Google products and services, like clickable video clips and Google Earth's satellite mapping tool. Visitors to a variety of Web sites in six cities around the country that are home to 22 Saturn dealerships will see what look like typical banner ads for Aura, a new midsize sedan. Clicking on an ad will produce a view of the earth that zooms in on the dealership nearest to the computer user. The doors to the dealership then fly open, and the general manager introduces a brief commercial about the new sedan. After his spiel, the user can spin the car around 360 degrees, inspect its engine, print a map with directions to the dealership, and visit the sites of both Saturn and that specific dealer. Pretty cool. And pretty darn relevant, too. There are more cool innovations like these, as well as stumbling blocks, in other areas of online advertising. The Air Force, for example, was just forced to take down a MySpace page it put up last month due to concerns about inappropriate content linking to the profile. Putting up a profile on MySpace probably wasn't the smartest decision ever made by the Air Force, especially since so many young people are divided over how they feel about the War in Iraq and the war on terror.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »

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