Report: Search docs show BP spent millions on Google ads for 'oil leak'
BP appears to have contained its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but
now faces a different kind of embarrassing leak: Advertising Age says
that it has obtained "internal Google documents" that show the
embattled oil company spent millions this past summer to guarantee that
its ads would appear whenever Internet users searched for information
about the Gulf disaster.
BP spent $3.6 million in June, making it one of Google's top
advertisers that month, to have its ads accompany search results for
terms including "oil spill," "leak," "top kill," and "live feed," Ad
Age says. Up to then, BP had not been a major buyer of search ads.
That illustrates "how important Google has become for reputation
management, and in the battle for public opinion," the magazine says.
Ad Age says that the documents it obtained about Google offer "some
clarity to one of the most opaque areas of ad spending," even though
they do not provide information about all of Google's advertisers.
The data show that BP was Google's sixth biggest buyer of search ads in
June. The oil company trailed AT&T Mobility, the Apollo Group (which
owns the online-based University of Phoenix), Expedia, Amazon, and eBay.
Ad Age says that it verified the accuracy of its documents' information
with "multiple sources with direct knowledge" of ad spending at Google.
BP declined to comment to the magazine.
But AdAge quotes Dennis Woodside, vice president of Google Americas
Operations, saying that the search giant is "now looking into the
possibility that someone improperly disclosed confidential information
about our clients, and [we] will take all appropriate action."
Others, including the website Mashable, noticed BP's ads on Google for
searches about the oil spill but did not have data about the extent of
the company's ad buying.
By David Lieberman
BP appears to have contained its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but
now faces a different kind of embarrassing leak: Advertising Age says
that it has obtained "internal Google documents" that show the
embattled oil company spent millions this past summer to guarantee that
its ads would appear whenever Internet users searched for information
about the Gulf disaster.
BP spent $3.6 million in June, making it one of Google's top
advertisers that month, to have its ads accompany search results for
terms including "oil spill," "leak," "top kill," and "live feed," Ad
Age says. Up to then, BP had not been a major buyer of search ads.
That illustrates "how important Google has become for reputation
management, and in the battle for public opinion," the magazine says.
Ad Age says that the documents it obtained about Google offer "some
clarity to one of the most opaque areas of ad spending," even though
they do not provide information about all of Google's advertisers.
The data show that BP was Google's sixth biggest buyer of search ads in
June. The oil company trailed AT&T Mobility, the Apollo Group (which
owns the online-based University of Phoenix), Expedia, Amazon, and eBay.
Ad Age says that it verified the accuracy of its documents' information
with "multiple sources with direct knowledge" of ad spending at Google.
BP declined to comment to the magazine.
But AdAge quotes Dennis Woodside, vice president of Google Americas
Operations, saying that the search giant is "now looking into the
possibility that someone improperly disclosed confidential information
about our clients, and [we] will take all appropriate action."
Others, including the website Mashable, noticed BP's ads on Google for
searches about the oil spill but did not have data about the extent of
the company's ad buying.
By David Lieberman
No comments:
Post a Comment