AAAA Supports the Bing & Yahoo! Search Deal

Nancy Hill, the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), recently sent out a letter in support of the Bing & Yahoo! search deal. Although the letter is short and concise, it highlights the fact that Google is a dominant player in the Internet advertising industry since it controls the main access point (“search”) to the majority of the web. The Bing & Yahoo! search deal would form a sizable opponent that would at least make the market more competitive.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION of ADVERTISING AGENCIES

Nancy Hill
President
Chief Executive Officer

October 19, 2009

Advertising is the fuel that powers the Internet. Most websites depend on online advertising to survive – it’s what allows them to offer consumers free content and services.

A very important form of online advertising is search advertising – the sponsored links that appear when a search engine answers a query. A healthy, competitive market for search and search advertising is crucial to the Internet’s future.

We believe that Yahoo! and Microsoft’s proposal to combine their technologies and search platforms is good for advertisers, marketing services agencies, website publishers and consumers.

These benefits are too important to wait for. As leading members of the advertising and marketing services industry, we urge the Department of Justice to bring its antitrust review to a speedy conclusion. This proposal enhances competition, and should be allowed to take effect as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Nancy Hill,
President & CEO

Maurice Levy,
Chairman and CEO, Publicis Groupe

Michael I. Roth,
Chairman and CEO, Interpublic Group of Companies

Martin Sorrell,
CEO, WPP
John Wren,
President & CEO, Omnicom Group