Google Stumbles During Ad-Research Dog-And-Pony Show

Note to Google guys: Do your homework before addressing an auditorium that’s packed with advertising-research executives.

There were several cringe-worthy moments at the Advertising Research Foundation’s conference when Google was questioned about two of its media-buying initiatives, namely Google TV Ads and Google Ad Planner.

Both Keval Desai, Google’s director of product management for TV Ads, and Wayne Lin, Google’s business product manager, seemed flummoxed this week when they were asked if the Internet giant would seek accreditation for its two media-buying offerings.

At the conference, Desai and Lin didn’t seem to have a clue about the Media Rating Council—the noted and stringent industry body that gives its imprimatur to media-measurement methodologies and services—when they were asked about it.

They did a lot of hemming and hawing and stammering. And they offered no firm answer to the question of whether Google would seek MRC accreditation for Google TV Ads and Ad Planner.

Google TV Ads permits advertisers to buy spots on the nearly 100 networks offered to Dish Network subscribers, while Ad Planner is a just-announced tool for media planners to pick the best sites to reach their target audiences with online ads.

Maybe Google feels that since it can give advertisers some precise server-based data, like traffic figures for Web sites where sponsors are buying online ads, that it isn’t obligated to have a third-party like the MRC give an OK to its methodology.

That sounds a little cavalier—and wrong!

At the very least, Google should have been prepared for the issue and question. After all, it was addressing ad-research mavens.

Even when Lin was asked what the source was for Ad Planner’s demographic data on Web-site users, he was ridiculously vague, saying Google would fuse data from several sources, which he declined to specify.

Even from my seat in the balcony of the Hudson Theater at the Millennium Hotel in Manhattan, I could see that didn’t go over too big with this crowd. If you have even spent any time with research folks, you know they are not big on vagueness, especially when it comes to data. The idea is to be as precise and accurate as possible.

In fact, that was the gist of the impromptu lecture that Desai got during the question-and-answer session at his presentation, which took place Wednesday, a day after Lin did his thing.

Tony Jarvis (pictured above), EVP of global research for Clear Channel Outdoor, tried to pin Desai down on the MRC accreditation issue—and then he got a little testy.

“This is the same question that was asked twice yesterday: When is Google going to submit its planning program from yesterday and your program today to the MRC for accreditation?” Jarvis asked Desai.

Jarvis kept it up, telling Desai, “You keep refusing to answer the question. This is a research forum. One of our missions, one of our most precious skills, it to try and make sure that our clients understand the rigor and quality of the data they are using relative to the value decision they are making.”

And here’s another unsolicited suggestion for Google, straight out of PR 101: When you’re announcing news like the launch of Google Ad Planner, put out a real press release on it. Don’t bury the news, as we say, by unveiling the initiative on the company’s AdWords blog. Flouting the rules, and the usual course of distributing news, doesn’t win you any friends in the media.

Dudes, get out of Silicon Valley’s virtual La-La Land and into the real world.