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August 9, 2008
John McCain Outspending Barack Obama in Search Engine Advertising
According to an exclusive story in the National Journal Online, John McCain has outspent Barack Obama for two consecutive months in search engine advertising.
Written by Lucas Grindley, the story, entitled, "McCain buys his way to top of Google," cites Nielsen Online data that shows McCain bought 7 million "sponsored search link impressions" in June and 5.4 million in May, compared with 1.15 million for Obama in June and 1.8 million during the previous month.
Since search engine advertising is sold on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis instead of cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), it's unclear if McCain's dramatic lead in impressions generated equally dramatic number of clicks.
It's worth noting that one of the top five sites where McCain bought image-based banner impressions was ... the National Review. However, the other five included Topix and The Washington Post, so it's not clear that you can read anything between the lines here.
By comparison, the top five sites where Obama bought image-based banner impressions included Yahoo, CNN and MSN. Plus, Obama bought 80 million banner impressions in June, compared with McCain's 16 million.
So, what's all this mean to search engine marketers?
For his story, Grindley interviewed Peter Greenberger, who manages the "small but growing" elections and issue advocacy team at Google. Greenberger speculated that the Presidential campaigns were in a "persuasion phase," where candidates might be more interested in banner advertising.
"You are not looking for that active voter who maybe knows who he or she is voting for," said Greenberger. "You are looking for that more passive voter who is reading information but not quite ready to commit."
Hmmm. I wonder if Greenberger has seen the new study conducted by Enquiro Research with Google in Europe that found the ability of unclicked search ads to build brand. If he hasn't, he can click on "Digging Still Deeper Into The Search Branding Question" and read the blog post by Gord Hotchkiss, the CEO of Enquiro.
Of course, Gord would be the first one to tell you that the debate over the search branding question is far from over.
But, if I were working in the McCain or Obama campaigns, I would run, not walk, to get my hands on the latest research. Gord is a Canadian, so he doesn't have a horse in this race. And, if this upcoming election is as close as the latest polls indicates that it is, then neither presidential campaign can afford to leave even a small amount of search branding value on the table.
As for the search engine marketers who read this blog, I would also encourage you to run, not walk, to get your hands on this latest research. As Gord says, "search can be the most important brand tool in a marketer’s arsenal, if it’s used in the right place. It’s a matter of understanding what search can do and what it can’t. And, even more importantly, understanding how to measure that value."
Posted by Greg Jarboe at August 9, 2008 5:25 PM
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Comments
Greg,
This new buzz about branding just floors me.
The studies cited in both your article, Gord's article, and just about every other article I could find point to search engines as an impact on AWARENESS.
I want to shout this loud and clear:
Awareness is not branding!!!
The only effective measure of branding is whether or not a person CHANGES BRANDS. Exposure to new brands is only part of the effort.
The reason I am taking this specific stand is because branding is still the consequence of excellent products that have some emotional impact on a user. Search engine results do not provide that. They provide the OPPORTUNITY for that to occur at a fraction of the cost.
But there are some key caveats to this. First, that means that unclicked ads might increase brand awareness, but they will probably have a far lower quality impact on branding.
These discussions drive me so crazy. If awareness were the only indicator of brand then there would a direct correlation between brand identification and advertising. In fact the correlation is surprisingly weak. So how is an unclicked search engine result any different from a small, text-only billboard? How is that going to elicit an emotional response?
Someone is still yet to prove that search engines have an impact on actual branding. I would propose that the search engine might get people to the place where branding could occur, but that it's a very different activity. It is only the follow-up effort--the voter digging deeper to look for more, in this example--that will result in a branding effect.
Posted by: Daniel O'Neil at August 13, 2008 5:28 PM
Daniel, that's a significant point: "Awareness is not branding!!!" Thanks for expanding the discussion.
Gord won't be at SES San Jose, but Bill Barnes, the co-founder and EVP of Enquiro Search, is speaking on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 1 p.m. He's on the Searcher Behavior Research Update panel.
So, if you are there, you might want to talk with Bill -- because Enquiro will be doing more research into this area and your distinction will be an important one to dig into.
Posted by: Greg Jarboe at August 13, 2008 6:25 PM
Hi Greg,
Wow, I wish I could be there this year...are you going to attend? Maybe it would be a good angle on the discussion.
By the way, I am very bullish on using internet marketing as a way to generate awareness...I just think it's only part of the story.
Posted by: Daniel O'Neil at August 14, 2008 4:23 PM
Yes, I'll be at SES San Jose next week, but I'm speaking in a different session, which is being held at the same time as the one that Bill will be speaking at. However, I'm sure that I'll see him around the conference and will mention your comments to him.
Posted by: Greg Jarboe at August 14, 2008 5:32 PM
Amen Daniel.
I'm continually baffled by how loosely branding is understood and tossed around in marketing conversations, and even moreso in regards to search.
Posted by: Adam Henige at September 25, 2008 4:23 PM
