• by April 28, 2004

Tomorrow, either Google will, or won't pull the trigger on one of the most hotly anticipated initial public offerings in recent memory.

In either case, the market is likely to go crazy. And Google, riding a wave of heady excitement, will continue to amuse and confound and do what it does best--create new, and heretofore unknown ways of harnessing the Web. Though if the debate over Gmail, its proposed free email system that embeds text ad links in email messages is any indication, Google may have some rough seas in its future. Privacy concerns are not going to disappear. Users of Gmail, now in test, won't want the content of their messages "scanned" in order to place appropriately targeted text links in them.

For its part, Google's big rival in the Valley, Yahoo!, says it's embracing the impending IPO. In a published report today, Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel welcomed Google into the fray: "There is plenty of room for Yahoo! to thrive and for Google to thrive," Semel told reporters assembled at a Silicon Valley conference. Yes, we've heard that before: competition makes us all better. It is true to a very large extent.

Yahoo! also has a tiny stake in Google, so it is hardly disinterested. And both companies are competing aggressively in the Internet search space for advertiser dollars, mindshare, and supremacy in web technology.

Lest you think that we, too, are all caught up in the Google IPO frenzy, we have not forgotten about you, dear reader. Please amble down those hallways and find us your rising media stars--brilliant media buyers and planners--and nominate them for our Rising Media Star Awards. And by all means, nominate yourself!

CALLING ALL MEDIA STARS!

You have just three days, until Friday, April 30, to nominate talented, hard-working, and creative up-and-comers for Media Magazine's Rising Media Star Awards.

In case you haven't read the Minute in a few days, we are looking for the folks who are toiling away on media plans and overseeing media buys, strategizing on the best possible combinations for their clients, and making their bosses look good every single day of the week.

These rising stars are quite possibly being groomed for bigger things--projects and assignments that they probably don't even know about yet. They are passionate and focused, and bring a creative intensity to their jobs. They understand how media brings a client's campaign to life. They take chances.

Are you a rising media star? Do you know someone who is? We invite you to nominate yourselves, and those you manage. Click on the link to enter the process.