There are times when technology news can make you feel dumb; a sort of “slow down, I’ve never heard any of those terms before” feeling comes up. But in this instance, we’re placing the blame for any confusion on Google and Publicis; the two companies put out a short, vague press release, and seem to have scattered all relevant information to the winds.
First, the contents of that release: “Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, and Maurice Levy, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, held informal meetings at Publicis Groupe’s Paris headquarters today. Eric Schmidt and Maurice Lvy also used the occasion to talk with the press about ongoing collaboration between Google and Publicis Groupe. This collaboration, underway for over one year, is based on a shared vision of how new technologies can be used to improve advertising.”
There you go – three sentences, not counting the company info. Brevity is important, but this may not be the best way to go about announcing longstanding corporate relationships.
Now, as for those scattered details . . . there are indeed bits from several corners of the world. The International Herald Tribune is based in Paris, and for it, Victoria Shannon reports on Eric Schmidt’s apparent interest in “open source advertising.” Publicis and Google will, it seems, pursue related digital advertising goals.
They may even do so in close physical proximity to one another. Amanda Andrews of the UK-based Times Online writes that Google might place hundreds of its employees in Publicis offices.
Finally, a report from New York’s own Dow Jones states that Google and Publicis will meet several more times over the next few weeks. With any luck, they’ll feel like sharing a little information as those meetings take place.
