Seth Godin's Marketing Advice for Google

So I recently watched a video of Seth Godin speaking at Google. As the author of "All Marketers are Liars", which has recently inspired its own blog, as well as a man named one of the "21 Speakers for the Next Century" by Successful Meetings Magazine, Seth seems like a perfect choice for Google to invite to come inspire and advise its employees. What's funny is that Seth is the founder and CEO of a marketing company that has been acquired by Yahoo!, one of Google's main competitors. While Seth makes many references to Yahoo! in his presentation, he continually praises Google for its innovative ideas and technology, and ability to seemingly stay ahead of Yahoo! in the market. In fact he begins his speech in a humble tone, telling his listeners that he is "intimidated" to be standing in front of them and that he has "no business telling [them] anything".

The main message of Seth's presentation was that Google has found ways to exceed their competition and become a household name. He praises them for what they have done, but he also warns them of the dangers of success. With that said, he gives them tips on what he thinks will keep them at the forefront of the market. These main tips included building a platform for organic growth, the power of word of mouth, and the importance of offering products and services that are "on the edge," things that people choose to talk about. He then explains to them that these people they want to talk about them are just a tiny group of people within its millions of users. Its up to Google to "slice" the group to find these people who will in turn spread "idea viruses." THAT is how Google will stay great and continue to expand its success.

But blah, blah, blah, right? If you wanted to hear about any of this you'd go to a marketing or WOM blog. But we're here to talk about product placement. And as a enthusiast of product placement, the thing I found the most interesting about Seth's presentation was his emphasis on permission marketing. Make your ads personal and relevant. Send out your messages to people who want to hear them, when they want to hear them, and in the way they want to hear them. To me, this sounds like the epitomy of product placement. If the products being placed are relevant to the film, music video, TV drama that they have been placed in then the "ad" is being sent to the right people, in the right place. And, perhaps more importantly, it is not interrupting their media experience, and in that way it is precisely in the way people want to receive marketing messages. Maybe Seth's presentation was secretly praising product placement? Maybe someone at Google attuned to the same message I did while watching the presentation, and maybe product placement will become the cornerstone of Google's future marketing success? Maybe I'm completely off. But I knew you'd appreciate these insights. If you didn't you probably wouldn't have read this far into my post. What I do know, though, is that I will be on the lookout, more than ever, for the product placement of Google.