Should Brand Owners Get a Cut from Google?

The Googlejet blog has a pretty original idea: Why not send a cut of brand name AdWords ads to the brand owner?

To explain: Google’s always been worried about companies taking out advertisements on AdWords using or targeting brand names, and with good reason: They’ve been sued over it more than once. AdWords advertisers want to use brand names, such as advertising on searches for the names of competitors, or ads saying they are better than the other guy, but most brands would rather not allow that, and have used their lawyers to prove their point.

So, as the blog suggest, why not give the brand owners some incentive to let anything go. Give a percentage or a set fee from brand-using AdWords ads to the brand owner, giving them a good reason to allow the ads to continue. Not only would the brand owner gain from the ad, money that could be used on its own ad campaigns, and it would effectively be an ad-cost discount for the brand owner; but it would be a dis-incentive for the advertiser to use brands, since every ad against a competitor actually puts money in the competitor’s pocket!

It’s a gutsy idea, one I’d love to see Google try to implement. Obviously, it could only happen if the brand owner agreed beforehand to participate, but it could add a new spin to advertising on Google. It also solves a major problem for Google: A huge and increasing percentage of searches on Google (some estimate 75 of the top 100 search terms) are brand names, searches that are very hard to monetize.

(via Digg)

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