Marksonland

I read about the recent Google Gadget Ads announcement with some degree of satisfaction but also a bit of sadness. The ad format they announced reminds me a lot of the Walgreen's ad we designed with ShopLocal and ran on Topix last year. Seeing Google embrace this idea gives me satisfaction that we were onto something interesting there, but it also makes me sad that I couldn't get that business moving forward for Topix. Going forward, perhaps once again Google will provide the answer on that front.

Now the one company that I would think should benefit from this announcement is ShopLocal (full disclosure: my wife works there). ShopLocal hosts the Sunday circulars for Walgreen's and most of the other top retailers (Home Depot, Macy's, etc.) out there. As a result they compile data feeds that are ideal for these types of ad units (this is the data we used in the Walgreen's ad). Given that this data is dying to be distributed in a monetizeable format, the fact that ShopLocal controls (at least for now) its distribution really puts them in the catbird's seat.

Hmmmm, here you have a company that sits squarely within the Tribune/ Gannett/ McClatchy local newspaper company family and they own a ton of data that is dying to be distributed to local properties - sounds like a pretty good network opportunity to me.

As I've written before (ad nauseum), there needs to be a change in the publishing model in the future, and I think it will be a product led change - not just supply/ demand led. The Walgreen's Ad Google Gadget Ads may not be the final answer, but it's a move in the right direction - owning it and the network is a good idea.