f anyone’s in a position to write (or rewrite) the rules of advertising, it’s Google, the company that was founded in 1998 and now has a market cap of $197 billion.  Marketers may want to pay attention, then, as the search giant outlined three “laws of display advertising physics” this afternoon.

There’s actually a lengthy blog post on the Agency Ad Solutions Blogexplaining the laws and presenting additional information if you feel like making your way through around 1,150 words.  Here, we’re going to stick to the basics (as presented on the Official Google Blog).

Law number one (nicknamed “The Theory of Relativity”): “The distinction between different advertising technologies (like ad networks and demand side platforms) is blurring.  Each of these technologies provides similar ways to achieve your marketing goals, depending on how you want to manage your campaign.”

Law number two (AKA “Fusion Theory”): “There’s a few different ways to deliver ads to people.  Each on their own is powerful, but combining these different ways unlocks the best results.”

Law number three (or “The Law of Perpetual Motion”): “New technology is driving rapid change in display advertising – which is constantly improving marketers’ creative palettes and the way that ads are bought and sold.  Embracing new media and technology provides a key way for marketers to differentiate and grow their businesses in a new universe.”

Make of these what you will.  Obviously, they’re not as simple and clear-cut as some people might like, but as anyone who’s tackled many physics problems can tell you, neither are the laws Google’s modeled them after.

By Doug Caverly