I'm surprised he's only paying $7000 to put up a massive billboard next to a maj...

Matt_Cutts · on Jan 20, 2011

Consumer Watchdog paid to put their message up on a Jumbotron in Times Square: http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2010/09/02/consumer-wat...

That article says they paid $25000 for their cartoon that tried to make Eric Schmidt look creepy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouof1OzhL8k

rsingel · on Jan 20, 2011

And as you know, I made it clear that I thought Consumer Watchdog went way over the line and made unfair claims. I don't see this with DDG and its campaign. http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/in-defense-of-google/

yuhong · on Jan 20, 2011

Yea, I remember reading that it was likely paid by Microsoft.

JacobAldridge · on Jan 20, 2011

I think the return on investment probably needs to (and intends to) include the public relations events (like the Wired article) created, as well as direct conversion rates.

It's entirely possible DDG / Gabriel will have more new users from that article than from a month of the billboard, but of course the article wouldn't have been written if he hadn't done something novel like old-school advertising a new-school product.