• by Tameka Kee , Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, August 7, 2008

Google's divestiture of Performics will help the search giant look more like a friend than an enemy to big Madison Avenue shops, but it clearly will make it friendlier to one - Publicis Groupe - than others. The sale, which is expected to close in the third quarter, was expected ever since Google acquired Performics as part of its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick last year. The only question was who would buy it.

Executives familiar with the deal say it had nothing to do with the alliance Google struck with Publicis earlier this year to begin sharing intelligence, best practices and even personnel as part of an effort to better understand each other's culture and improve the working relationships between the world's largest search provider and Madison Avenue's best in class marketing services organization. They say Publicis simply outbid other rivals - principally WPP Group - when Performics was put on the block. But the acquisition will accelerate the bond between Google and Publicis, which already has been integrating the Dart Search system Google had acquired as part of its DoubleClick acquisition, and which it will understand better than any other shop on Madison Avenue after absorbing Performics.

The deal also bolsters Google's image on the rest of Madison Avenue, shedding a big concern that it provides services that compete directly with agencies.

"It's clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business," said Tom Phillips, DoubleClick integration director, in an official company blog post in April. "For this reason, we plan to sell the Performics search marketing business to a third party. We believe this will allow us to maintain objectivity and the search marketing business to continue to grow and innovate and serve its customers."

"Publicis has a long track record with traditional clients," said Aaron Goldman, vice president of client strategy & development at Omnicom's Resolution Media. "Performics built its business on Internet retailers. So it could be a good yin-yang combination."

"It's a great deal," said David Kidder, CEO of Clickable. "They already have a fairly meaningful collection of companies doing search marketing, and it adds a nice depth of clients to the VivaKi roster."

Others aren't so sure. "They bought 165 people, most of whom are in Chicago," said Rob Norman, global CEO of GroupM North America. "So they're definitely bigger than us in search in Chicago, but I can't speak to whether that puts them 'on par' with WPP."