moTi - 7:33 pm on Feb 16, 2010 (gmt 0)

but they are an ad agency aswell

call them that, but that doesn't make them marketing professionals. remember how they got in the business: they more or less stumbled upon the adwords idea, becoming their only cash cow. look how they still struggle with every other feature than pure text ads.
so "ad agency" rather in the meaning as provider of technical infrastructure for online ad delivery than anything creative.

well, if they understand public relation tools that good, why did they fail so miserably on the buzz thing?

no, i think they were really that naive with their product launch. they have the engineering brainpower. but they lack the soft skills. that's why google will never be sexy and why they will never get the social thing.