Google Buys Ad Space to Stoke Sale of Apps

Google Inc. is so well known that it has become a synonym for search, making advertising unnecessary. Getting businesses to buy Google's online suite of office applications requires a little more elbow grease and marketing muscle.

In a rare commercial campaign, Google is leasing billboards along major highways in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston this month to promote a bundle of business applications that sells for $50 per worker annually. A different message will be displayed each weekday through August, starting with Monday morning's commute.

Google has been peddling its "apps" package since 2007, but only recently realized it needed a more aggressive sales pitch.

"People don't necessarily think of Google when it comes to how we can help companies," said Michael Lock, director of sales and operations for Google's enterprise division in North America.

For now, Google doesn't plan to advertise its business applications in other offline media like magazines, newspapers, television or radio, said Andy Berndt, managing director of the company's creative labs.

The billboard campaign underscores just how determined Google is to lure corporate customers away from Microsoft Corp.'s e-mail service and industry-leading applications for word processing, spreadsheets and scheduling. To a lesser degree, Google also is targeting IBM Corp.