Google is coming to a mall near you – and UBS Internet Analyst Benjamin Schachter is intrigued by the concept as a logical addition to its existing advertising initiatives. Last month, the search marketing giant filed a patent for an outdoor-display ad concept involving kiosks or billboards displaying audio, video, or graphical ads. Google wants to connect billboard advertising in local malls to actual products for sale in local stores, in the same way that its AdWords/AdSense network that manages contextual advertising on the web. Aside from just altering passersby to a particular sale, the “Google Kiosk” could be set up like an ATM machine and could offer coupons and other communications from stores to shoppers.
In particular, UBS analysts are intrigued by the idea integrating inventory data into the serving of ads. Ads could be displayed by a retailer looking to sell a particular item, and with routine inventory information updating, Google could stop displaying a particular ad when the item is sold out. ClickZ compared Google’s planned display to current systems already available, noting that advertising in these screens are limited to looped, poster-type advertisements of movie promotions and other nearby events. Google’s new system could remove that burden and allow advertising and inventory cycles to move in tandem. But unlike imany of its other ventures, perhaps, Google is entering a space that’s already crowded and highly competitive. For example, last May, Publicis Groupe entered into a joint venture with Simon Property Group, the nation’s largest owner of shopping malls, to start the OnSpot Digital Network to showcase in-store ads. Whether or not Google is simply testing the waters, this is one area where the internet company might have to play catch up.  The UBS report is available as a PDF.
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