I received a notice from Google that all my ads were pulled related to this word, and if I had a problem with that I should take it up with "big company". All the other keyword bidders were also deleted so that now there are no google ads when "big company" is searched.
Well, I don't agree with big company. And in my small way of protesting I will no longer be an affiliate of theirs and will in fact now search of ways for competing with them. Google will also lose out on my small $. Not that they will care at all, but I'm just wondering if in the long run this very aggressive trademark protection will hurt both "big company" and google (plus alienate many affiliates).
Just my two cents. I would like to hear what some others think about it, as I am just a newbie here.
thx.
i had long enjoyed good CTR and ROI using the highly competitive keyword (name) of a Big Widget Company, for which i am an affiliate.
the Big Widget Company changed their affiliate agreement to disallow any purchase of PPC advertising based on their trademarked name. they didn't contact google, but they sent out an affiliate alert saying we couldn't bid on the keyword "Big Widget Company" or any misspelling of it.
it was horibly misguided, in my opinion.
because now, when you search for "Big Widget Company" on google, you get all of the affiliates of their competitors, who formerly couldn't even get on the first or second page. so, not only is the Big widget Comany not getting the sale, but they're actually making it easy for their competitors.
as for the real issue - can they, should they, ban advertisers who encroach upon their service mark? tough call, but it's absolutely within their rights to do so.
as for remaining an affiliate of that merchant... if you're converting and the ROI is there... you should definitely still continue.
what i've discovered through this experience is that keywords which you thought you absolutely must have to be successful in a particular category... you may not need at all. there are other, far less competitive keywords that will work harder for you, often for less money.
The actions of the "Big Company" you describe (i.e by not filling the advertising gap with their own content) really doesn't make economic sense to me, unless they are appearing in organic results. Perhaps the idea of an overzealous brand manager.
If you are a COMPETITOR then this seems reasonable and should be expected. No sympathy there.
You can tell that an organization is hurting when they start to eat their own.
Now that people are starting to realise that PPC is geeting more cost efficient for selling than getting on the top of the broad/main indexes (where people usually look for info, not to buy), and the new model of the "info listings with paid listings next to them" is starting to redeominate i think we will get a lot of the small to medium companies dropping their affiliate program for PPC.
That may be one reason why affiliate companies are stamping down on affiliates using their own name, when they could do it just as easily themselves and not have to pay a cut! Next step is they cease the program altogether.
It really drives me up a wall that G pulls the misspellings too. In every case where I have had ads pulled for trademark, I was advertising on several misspelling/variations that the trademark holder didn't even know about, so I wasn't even competeing with them. I don't understand how they can pull the misspellings as trademarks. Technically, the trademark holder does not hold a trademark for all variations.
Well, just thought I would let others know that I had all my ads in one campaign "dissapproved" (pulled) by Google after "big company" said no one could bid on their trademarked name or any similar form of keyword.
Aside from all the other issues - why should you be able to? It's not your trademark - you wouldn't be able to use it in other advertising literature - so why in Adwords? A Trademarked name only exists to protect the trademark owner from people trying to poach their business by using their trademark.
Also - "big company" probably spend a lot more on google adwords/premium than you (or may do, in the future)- so who should google go with?
From a business perspective, that pretty much sums it up. These are just long-standing rules in the the bricks world being applied to SEM. Affiliates/advertisers are just going to have to cope or be run over as this becomes a more sophisticated (and understood) medium. Just last night, one of the heavy-duty affiliates mentioned that they are running trademark searches as part of their domain-buying efforts, just to be sure they are likely to be in the clear before proceeding with development. Good idea!
if it's just a question of buying ads that link (with the affiliate's ID) to the Big Company website, well then, sure.... maybe.
but the reason affiliate programs will continue to exist is because of the contextual endorsement some affiliates provide. the Big Widget Company - short of having a lukewarm testimonial page on its site - can't really do that in a way that its affiliates can.
when we send traffic to the Big Widget Company, it's incredibly pre-qualified because the visitor has just read paragraphs (or even pages) of copy related to the products and services of the Big Widget Company. it's written in a way that the "BWC" couldn't and it provides tips and techniques to use the widgets that are not covered on the BWC site.
when a site visitor searches for information on big widgets, they don't always want to hear only what the BWC has to say, they want an "independent" voice to reaffirm their purchase decision.
and i believe the very fact that the information or endorsement can not be found on the bigwidgetcompany.com website somehow makes it more valuable to the user, even if they realize there is an affiliate commission involved. (the key to making your copy sincere is to only endorse products you personally use and can honestly recommend.)
as far as the use of another's trademark or service mark in the brick and mortar world to sell the product itself -- it happens all the time. it's difficult to advertise a special sale on a certain soft drink at your local supermarket, without using the service mark "Coke." the supermarket is an authorized reseller of the product.
but rarely is permission expressly granted to use the mark. and much to the vendor's/maufacturer's consternation, it's often used incorrectly, without the ® or "TM" symbol.
I can see preventing affiliates from buying the brand name but not generic terms.
It would be amusing to see how they'd handle pages that contained such content, especially if the pages contained a get out clause at the bottom in point 1 text "This web page is not sanctioned by big company, the information contain within is for information purposes blah blah etc...."
Are they gonna demand that google pr0's all such pages?
Ridiculous.
<EOR> :(
I've advised a few clients that it is a good policy to disallow using the trademarked term. Optimizing and buying PPC on their trademarked term is something they should do themselves, and bar affiliates from it. Why compete on your trademark with your "salesmen?" Those should be practically free clicks. If people are actually searching for the trademark, you've already done some branding, and you should benefit directly.
I would go so far as not allowing brand names of products that fall under the corporate umbrella. If I was the corporation behind an infomercial, why the heck should I allow affiliates to grab the ensuing traffic on the brand name, and pay again- either by paying the affiliates, or having to compete with them at OV et al.
I've paid for the AD / TV time, people go to the web. If they look for my company, they should find it. Its similar to giving an 800 number over radio or TV, and having it answered by affiliates to make the sale. Why would you?
I think good SEO has always been cheaper and easier than paying 100s to 1000s of affiliates 5-20% of the gross.
I want to understand this discussion but cannot think of "big companies" in the same breath as "affiliates". I think of GM, Ford, CA etc as big companies. Can someone please sticky me with some real names?
