Understanding that it's only a matter of time before search revenue reaches a plateau, Google has been making moves to grab a large piece of the pie of Madison Avenue's brand advertising budgets. So far agencies have been resistant and underwhelmed from the efforts.
The major reason for the resistance? Control! Google (GOOG) has demanded that the reporting and trafficking of all the ads be done by themselves and not include third party management companies like DoubleClick.
What the management firms offer is a platform that helps to consolidate campaigns that are spread across numerous individual sites.
"One thing we're looking for as an agency is how do we get it all to a common denominator so we can concentrate on…strategies," said Andreas Roell, president and CEO of agency Geary Interactive. "Google doesn't allow us to [use] well established technologies."
What's behind all of this is the difference between strategies for search and traditional marketers. With traditional marketers, there is a far larger world they 
reach than simply the search market. There is far more importance placed upon branding than the CPA model, which represents direct marketing rather than branding.
While Google is hinting that over a period of time they will probably open up their doors to third party serving, they seem to have made the decision that it's going to be done in a very slow and calculated way. The response of agencies is that they'll wait on the sidelines until they do.
This is a typical problem any company has when they move away from their core purpose, which with Google is of course "search." The marketing of brands is a totally different concept that they're having trouble working with within the parmeters they have based upon their search model.
With a lot of ad networks already willing to let third party trafficing and reporting, Google will have a difficult time gaining market share until they open themselves up. I'm sure their competitors are thrilled at the attitude that Google has developed.
Another interesting take from this situation from the view of the companies like DoubleClick is that they've found a way to serve a market with a built-in safety net, against a huge juggernaut like Google. They've done so well that companies won't work with Google unless and until they allow them in.
If they weren't in this position and Google was embraced by the agencies, there would probably be no third party managment service that would remain in existence. Now it's Google that needs them and not them that need Google. It shows there are ways to compete that aren't always obvious to the casual observer. It also shows that having a lot of money and a big stock price doesn't guarantee you anything.
Companies like Blue Lithium, Doubleclick and Advertising.com have make some good moves to put them in a strong, leveraged position. Now the ball's in Google's court.
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