Google: “We want agencies to thrive”

Speaking at MediaTel Group ‘Future of Online’ seminar, Nick Suckley, founding partner of agenda21, said: “I have a problem in that I don’t like any one media owner being dominant… competition is good.”

However, Dominic Allon, industry leader, Agency at Google, argued that “the competition is only one click away. If someone does build a better mousetrap, there’s always that option available”.

Perhaps allaying agency fears, Allon said that Google “could never hope to disintermediate agencies”. “Google sees its role as being a player in the ecosystem,” he said. “We want agencies to thrive and be profitable.”

“We’re playing our role in the ecosystem and that requires everyone to thrive; and that includes agencies,” he added.

In agreement was Brad Little, director of industry solutions at Nielsen Online. He said: “Agencies have skills and abilities they can bring to the table that the advertisers don’t possess. Google isn’t a total threat to the scenario.”

Suckley also brought up privacy issues concerning Google’s Chrome web browser. “I don’t have Chrome because it’s getting too intrusive in terms of what it finds out about me,” he said. “It’s not a million miles away from Spyware.”

He added: “If you’ve got Chrome you’re blindly following the company. The problem with Chrome is that it’s all about delivering ads to people – I don’t want my email, search habits… all melded into one to deliver me ads.

“I think it has overstepped the mark for me.”

Allon countered by describing Chrome’s ‘Incognito mode’ which allows anonymous browsing, although it was pointed out that users have to opt-out to access this.

He went on to say that Google has to focus on transparency as “the success of most digital media companies is in gaining and retaining users”.

“We take this seriously and we feel that we’re leading the industry on this debate,” he added.

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