• Adweek, Wednesday, October 29, 2008 11:45 AM

With the boatloads of money funneled to search marketing in recent years, one might not think academic proof was required to convince advertisers that search is where they should put their dollars. But according to WPP Group and Google, you would be wrong.

The two companies are teaming up to provide grants to academic research to show how search marketing benefits brands. The $4.6 million joint project, funded equally by the companies, will run three years, with about a dozen grants expected in the first year alone.

"The aim is to make us smarter, our clients smarter and help our clients move their budgets online more quickly," WPP Digital CEO Mark Read said. The partnership marks an unusual alliance between the two companies, given WPP honcho Martin Sorrell's famous reference to Google as a "frenemy."

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