“Google Inc., looking to lure more ad dollars from a broader range of marketers, hired a well-known Madison Avenue executive to work with ad agencies on new ways Google products can be used in advertising.”
New York — Search giant Google Inc. has tapped Andy Berndt, co-president of Ogilvy & Mather’s New York office, has left his post at the agency to go to Google, where he will helm a newly formed “Creative Lab” unit, dedicated to collaborating with marketers, agencies and entertainment companies.
Berndt, who resigned from Ogilvy this week, will become the managing director of “Google Creative Lab,” according to a Google representative. In the newly created position, Berndt will lead the marketing of Google’s brand and services.
The move comes as Google looks to expand its relationships with large brand advertisers. After initially offering only simple text links overwhelmingly geared to direct-response marketers, Google has added graphical and video ads more often used by brands.
The so-called Google Creative Lab will serve to foster partnerships with members of the marketing, agency, and entertainment communities, according to the report.
A former creative director and account handler, Berndt, 40, will report to David Lawee, Google’s vice-president of marketing. Aside from promoting Google products to ad firms, Berndt will be expected to work with agencies to better market Google’s brands and services. He is expected to join Google by year end.
“Google’s move stirs dormant worries that the online advertising and search engine giant may try its hand at improving creative agencies.”
Berndt’s hiring is likely to unnerve some on Madison Avenue, who may worry that Google intends to get into creative services (the task of designing ads), which is the ad industry’s bread and butter. A Google spokeswoman said the company was “not moving into the ad agency business” and would not work with marketers directly.
Berndt, who has worked at Ogilvy for almost a decade, ran the agency’s flagship office and also worked as a creative director on the firm’s big International Business Machines Corp. account, including Lenovo, Ameritrade and Yahoo!
In June 2006, he was joined by Michelle Bottomley and Harvey Kipnis, then co-managing directors of OgilvyOne, as leaders of Ogilvy New York. When Kipnis shifted to chief growth officer for North America in May, Berndt and Bottomley became co-presidents of New York.
Berndt was previously managing director of Ogilvy & Mather, New York, a post he had held since April 2006, where he was responsible for managing the offices advertising operations, including strategy and planning, account management, finance, human resources and new business.
Still, the hiring follows a number of steps by Google onto Madison Avenue. It could be that Berndt will do for Google what Microsoft’s purchase of aQuantive did for the Redmond Company. Microsoft ended up with the Avenue A/Razorfish ad agency as part of the deal, and they do not seem like they want to give that up.
After building its search-marketing business into a powerhouse, Google has begun to expand its ad-brokering services to traditional media such as print, television and radio.
Cozying up to the advertiser community, Google late last year opened striking new offices in downtown New York City. The intention was to combine Madison Avenue with Silicon Valley to forge a vast marketing platform, Tim Armstrong, Google’s vice president for ad sales, said at the time. New York is the key to Google’s future, Armstrong said, because “Google has become a large advertising company.”
It is not a secret that Google has an interest in the entertainment industry, particularly the potential of landing lucrative ad deals. As being noted earlier in September, Google wants TV ad reps for its New York operations.
Berndt, who was just named as an inductee to the AAF Hall of Achievement, has an interesting mix of both creative and account experience. Prior to joining Ogilvy as a copywriter in 1999, he was on the account side, first at Weiden & Kennedy, where he worked on Nike and on Microsoft during its 1995 “Start Me Up” campaign. He then headed to TBWA/Chiat/Day, where he was the account executive on Apple’s “Think Different” campaign.
Berndt’s departure comes as Ogilvy has been trying to bolster its new-business prowess, having recently failed in pitches for Wal-Mart and Sprint Nextel. Mr. Berndt was known to be interviewing executives to take over the agency’s new-business effort, according to people familiar with the situation.
Ad executives were not surprised by Google’s latest move. Many say building up its agency-type services is a step in the right direction for Google and will likely result in more ad revenue for the company.
An Ogilvy spokeswoman confirmed Berndt’s departure, although he will stay on for a transitional period.
It was not immediately clear if Ogilvy would fill Berndt’s post. For now “there is a strong management team leading the agency,” said a representative, referring to Bottomley and North American co-CEOs Bill Gray and Carla Hendra. “Gray and Hendra told staffers about Berndt’s exit in an internal e-mail on Monday.”
“Google’s latest executive hire comes as the line between technology giants such as Microsoft Corp. and ad titans such as Omnicom Group Inc. continues to blur.”