I think people are blowing the Google SA Certification thing way, way, WAY out of proportion.
[source]
Google SA is planning on “certifying” 5 agencies in the local online market - basically, something like a stamp of approval. This is being done to ward off the chancers in the industry - the shady companies that make huge promises, charge huge amounts of money, and then fail to deliver:
“They go in, they bill clients incorrectly. There is fraud happening. What really peeves me, is they say: ‘Give us R100 000 and we’ll sort it out… trust me’. They will not disclose to clients what their Google campaigns entail.”
[source]
Personally, I’m all for it. SA is stuck in the 21st-century digital dark age - many companies want to get online, but there’s no clear definition about what the best practices are, how these things work, and who to go to to get the best service.
By certifiying agencies as “trustworthy”, Google SA will be taking a step in the right direction. It’s not the only thing they’ll have to do, though, and it appears that Massie understands this:
Stafford: We are not only going to work with these agencies only, we won’t be a cartel… The certification will cost nothing. People get us wrong. This is not about making money – this is to ensure that we will build “reference” agencies – so there is a model in the industry that people can follow. We will have experts out there to enable various Google tools… we will provide training on all the tools. We want to broadly empower the industry.
[source] [emphasis added]
Of couse, the moment Google makes any move about approving/certifying anything, people immediately slap the “anti-trust”, “cartel”, “regulation”, and “evil” stamps on it:
Ahhh, the almighty Go(d)ogle :( Somehow they found a way to even f#ck up my perception of them. From love to hate. Oh well. [stii]
Google and certified agencies? Excellent idea, but I smell market bias and unfair practice. Why only 5 agencies? [EveD]
@shawnjooste @stii http://tinyurl.com/6h9rtr Pretty much speaks to a monopoly trying to regulate a free market by exercising control. [MandyLdeWaal]
Personally, I believe this to be a good move. Not the best, move, but a good one. It would have been better if an independent marketing body would do the certifications - which begs the question of why it wasn’t done sooner.
Maybe Google SA’s trying to make up for the Entelligence debacle. Either way, once it’s clear who to trust in this online space, maybe the industry will move forward?
The only problem is that only 5 will be certified, Thats just fucked up. I don’t have a problem with certification but it must be available to all
But it is EXACTLY the Entelligence debacle that has us so skeptical. It should also be the reason that Google make sure they explain their new ventures with clarity and common sense.
In theory, accrediting agencies is a good idea. but why mention that you’ll only do 5? And why say you *are* going to be disruptive?
@Guy It WILL be available to all - check Masie’s comment. Just for now, to get the ball rolling, they’re picking 5.
@EveD Ok, granted, communication on these things suck, and they could have issued a more formal statement than a leaked agenda item on a business blog.
I think his intention was to say they were *starting* with 5, clearly communicated or not. And we’re not helping matters by going OMG CARTEL!!1! when we see something like this. Rather backpedal and check the facts before you go smearing egg all over your own face (Afrigator vs Regator, for instance, and I’ll KEEP quoting it until we stop thinking like a herd).
As far as “Disruptive” goes, I reckon they’re referring to simply rocking the boat, bringing about a change. If anything, it’s the darkside blackhats that are disrupting things at this point…
I don’t know where they will start. And lets face it no matter how they go about this it’s going to be “unfair”.
However, if some companies are “Google Certified” and others aren’t, guess who’s more likely to get the business.
I think Google should stick to offering AdWord certification and that’s it.
@Robert I suppose that’s more a matter of how fast they roll out the certifications to the agencies that qualify for them. And remember - more agencies that get work == more money for them, so they’re probably gonna want to certify as many agencies as possible, just after making sure that they actually do business the right way.
[...] with the photo album book), and to help demystify the disintermediation discombobulation that is Google SA’s certification programme. He also pointed out 280slides (I think), and I was telling him about [...]
If there are only 5 certified agencies (even if it’s only 5 to begin with), what happens to the other smaller guys that have promoted Google thus far? There are many small players that have gone about their business with integrity, now they will lose out to Google’s selected agencies. How are they selecting these agencies? Google is asking for transparency - lead the way by telling us what their criteria are.
As an agency, it’s not Google’s selection of 5 that is upsetting, but the general statement of ‘agencies are committing fraud’. Any agency not selected by Google will be cast under suspicion. Fraud isn’t something you should allege without clear evidence & fact.
@Sean Just like in my previous comment - they’re only starting with 5. It’s in Google’s interests to certify as many agencies as possible, so I’m sure they’ll roll it all out as soon as possible.
Yes, the allegations of fraud are serious, but the fact remains that there are agencies & marketers out there not playing by the rules. Until there’s an established standard to separate them from the honest agencies, we’ll still be in the dark about who to trust - and that’s exactly what Google SA seems to want to accomplish here.
And yes, they should have communicated all of this a little more clearly. But from the initial post, the feeling I get is that it wasn’t supposed to come out until they had finalized all their plans. Now we’re jumping every gun there is.