Selling Tide, and text ads

Vnunet reports that Google and consumer products heavyweight Procter & Gamble have traded some staffers in order glean advertising know-how from each other. For P&G, the goal was to figure out how best to leverage the "new" world of online search and advertising, while Google hoped to get more insight into how to snag--and keep--big ad spenders like P&G. It's sort of like Mad Men meets the Internet.

The exchange program, called the P&G Google Exchange, started in January, well before the current economic crisis came to a head. Still, it shows that the ad/sales gurus are looking ahead--both in terms of technology and customer retention. P&G has long been the ultimate ad maker and spender, known primarily for its TV ads for such stalwart brands as Bounty and Tide. P&G realizes that older ad channels can only take it so far, however, especially in the under-30 demographic that tends to Tivo through TV ads and spends far more time on line than in front of the tube. As P&G transitions to the Web, Google would love to be the primary recipient of its widespread ad largesse.

What's interesting is the staff exchange ratio. Google sent just three staffers to P&G, while P&G sent 20 staffers to Google. So who had the most to learn? It will be interesting to see if P&G puts its ads and money where its staff went.