16 April 2008
Britain’s major companies could lose millions as Google has unveiled radical changes to its trademark policy. There are fears that it will be no longer be possible to protect their brands online.
Google currently blocks advertisers from bidding on any branded keywords in the UK and Ireland. For example, ‘Pepsi’ cannot bid on the keyword ‘Coca-cola’. However, from next month, advertisers can bid on trademarked keywords as is the case in the US. The policy is tipped to send prices rocketing and could leave the search giant open to legal challenges from the major UK brands likely to lose millions as a result.
Commenting on the move, Lyndsay Menzies, Managing Director of bigmouthmedia UK, said:
This is an incredibly bold move that has taken most of the sector by surprise. It will certainly lead to a big change in the way that advertisers and agencies manage their search campaigns. It could also have an impact on the UK digital agency landscape with agencies running on pure performance deals taking a big hit.
While bad news for major brands, the move is likely to be good news for smaller competitors looking to close the gap, although a question mark now hangs over what effect it will have on the millions invested every year in keyword bidding.
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