• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, March 8, 2016

TubeMogul has launched war on Google through a cross-channel advertising campaign aimed at people who work in the ad business. It's a scene out of the playbook of search marketers. 

The effort aims to prove the mega search company doesn't always do what's best for the industry -- a sentiment expressed by some search marketers who don't have the nerve to push the envelope for fear of being penalized in search results.

The campaign -- supported through outdoor signs placed near top advertising agencies in New York and San Francisco, as well as print ads in trade magazines and Web video ads -- points to a page on TubeMogul’s Web site featuring "A Manifesto For Independence." The white paper details how Google has created a walled garden full of data and proprietary technology and rules, something Facebook has been accused of for years.

This is nothing new for search marketers. Many are all too familiar with rules and regulations as well as the lack of visibility into campaigns, but none have questioned the integrity of those who run the engine or the technology behind paid-search advertising and product listing ads.

The white paper describes how Google created a walled garden of data that complicates true "cross-channel advertising by limiting access to important inventory sources and compartmentalizing data. Open ecosystems were built with the dream of fluid cross-channel campaigns that share data and launch the industry forward. The two philosophies could not be more opposed."

Some advertisers say Google has been reluctant to allow marketers to use preferred third-party software to track how ad campaigns perform and prevent ad fraud. The company also makes it difficult for marketers to use their own data and technology when buying ads on Google properties.

The white paper also details how Google limits access to inventory sources like social networks and private inventory making cross-channel campaigns, retargeting, and frequency capping outside of their networks difficult.

Visibility into campaign data also remains a major problem, per TubeMogul. The white paper states that Google limits advertisers' visibility into campaign site and performance data and tailors outgoing data porting, so advertisers have limited insights into what exactly is producing positive or negative results.'

The idea that Google has built an empire on open source and proprietary technology that runs across Google search, DoubleClick, YouTube and other properties apparently doesn't sit well with TubeMogul. The company believes Google uses its clout to force brands to buy media using Google’s technology and requires search marketers to buy, bid, and optimize content by its rules to climb higher in query results. 

And of course at the end of the day, TubeMogul lays out a list of reasons why advertisers should do business with them instead. Among the benefits, the company says it allows advertisers to purchase important private inventory within the platform, integrates with advertisers' DMPs to use first-party data for audience targeting, and doesn't make money from publishers that run inventory through its platform. "We’re strictly buy-side," the company explains.