Google Goes Outside

Google Uses Outdoor Billboards To Promote Goog411

Interestingly, Google has chosen to use outdoor billboards for initial promotion of its new 411 service. We'll see if this proliferates. Currently, I get the feeling that if you're not online very much, you don't have the same perception of the Google brand as you would if you were constantly surfing the web.

This has significant implications for the over-40, rural demographic that probably doesn't spend that much time perusing websites or buying adwords. Are those the people more likely to use 411? Or, as SELand observes, is this completely a location thing, an attempt to get people's attention when they're at the place where they're most likely to use 411?

I think it's a mix. Those getting their direction from billboards are more likely to be older, less online-savvy users, and therefore Google wants to not exclude those people. However, billboards are probably also more effective media for 411 ads, simply because of their location - people see them while in cars, which is the time when they're most likely to use 411.