Search word advertising
Thomas Hanan was Google Switzerland's first employee. Today, he works at the Hürlimann Areal in Zurich as Head of Sales Switzerland. In this role, he is also responsible for maintaining relationships with agencies.
He has looked at countless stars up close in space. But Thomas Hanan had no idea at the time how to "look deep into a crystal ball" on Earth. In 1998, after completing a double degree in astronomy and marketing in Denver, the internet and digital media were already "a big topic". Google had gone online two years earlier. Even then, Hanan was fascinated by the possibilities of this search engine. But he was far from thinking that he would one day become Google's first employee in Switzerland. And he would have had to be a fortune teller to predict that this global company in Switzerland would one day be the largest development center outside the USA with over 400 employees in Zurich.
Thomas Hanan started out as a man of the first hour in a small studio in Erlenbach. Here he was to build up the future contacts for the sales department. When an engineer quickly joined as a second employee, the duo moved to Seefeld. "It was funny how two different worlds had to come together here. As a salesman, I wanted a prestigious location as an office so that I could receive customers. The engineer was only looking for manhole covers under which he could assume a strong internet connection."
When the rapidly growing team moved to Limmatquai a few months later, there were already 15 people. Here, Urs Hölzle, Google's first Vice-President, who was responsible for developing the technical and operational infrastructure at the headquarters in the USA, was still assembling Ikea furniture himself, Hanan recalls. As an Internet pioneer with Swiss roots, Hölzle was also largely responsible for Google choosing Zurich as its most important European development location. Specialists from all over the world find a great quality of life here. Google also seeks proximity to important universities.
Still great need for development in online advertisingWhen Google expanded further in 2006 to Freigutstrasse, it already had 150 employees in Switzerland. In 2007, Google Switzerland finally found its futuristic home in the Hürlimann area. As Industry Head Switzerland, Thomas Hanan is primarily concerned with "developing the agency market". Traditional media agencies and specialized online marketers are "trained" by his team on how to get the most out of a budget with Google. The impact of online advertising and its potential are well known today. "However, there is still a great need for development," says Hanan. Although we in Switzerland have one of the best broadband networks in the world and the highest Internet penetration, the proportion of online advertising is still less than 2 percent, compared to 20 in England and over 10 in Germany. "Many media people who have mainly been active in the traditional media up to now still lack the specialized know-how," Hanan notes. To enable advertisers to venture as far as possible into the jungle of the World Wide Web without losing their bearings, Google now offers a special certification. Media specialists and agencies who have attended and successfully completed the Google courses can use the title "Google Advertising Professional".
The internet not only influences opinion-forming by being the first point of contact for obtaining information. "It also influences the purchasing process," Hanan is convinced. Anyone who is about to make a new purchase, wants to compare cars, book travel or even buy a house, first looks for information online. AdWords are therefore Google's most important offering on the world's largest search portal. Clearly defined search terms such as "vacation in Greece", "vacuum cleaner" or "poster by Andy Warhol" can be used to place paid information that appears at the top of the screen when a search query is made. These text ads are highlighted in yellow on the Google screen and are therefore clearly separated from the generic area of the search results. The position of this information, which is generated according to a very complex system of statistics and quality, cannot be influenced with money. In this way, the world's largest search engine wants to remain true to its most important principle: "Google always puts the user first."
Before Thomas Hanan found his way to this company, which now has 7,000 employees worldwide, he started with an internship at Credit Suisse in Zurich. The son of an American father and a German mother studied business administration and marketing in Denver. As astronomy has always been his hobby and the highest observatory in the world is part of the university, he also completed a second degree in this subject. "It was an education for the mind," he says, describing his feelings when looking at the stars.
His entry into the web was at Multi Media Development MMD. After returning to Switzerland, Hanan helped to set up this subsidiary of PubliGroupe and then opened the Zurich office for Yahoo. Before moving to Google five years ago, Hanan took a timeout and lived under the stars for another six months. As a skipper, he ferried sailing yachts to the Caribbean. Today, he also enjoys cruising in front of his apartment in Feldmeilen.
Andreas Panzeri
Thomas Hanan started out as a man of the first hour in a small studio in Erlenbach. Here he was to build up the future contacts for the sales department. When an engineer quickly joined as a second employee, the duo moved to Seefeld. "It was funny how two different worlds had to come together here. As a salesman, I wanted a prestigious location as an office so that I could receive customers. The engineer was only looking for manhole covers under which he could assume a strong internet connection."
When the rapidly growing team moved to Limmatquai a few months later, there were already 15 people. Here, Urs Hölzle, Google's first Vice-President, who was responsible for developing the technical and operational infrastructure at the headquarters in the USA, was still assembling Ikea furniture himself, Hanan recalls. As an Internet pioneer with Swiss roots, Hölzle was also largely responsible for Google choosing Zurich as its most important European development location. Specialists from all over the world find a great quality of life here. Google also seeks proximity to important universities.
Still great need for development in online advertisingWhen Google expanded further in 2006 to Freigutstrasse, it already had 150 employees in Switzerland. In 2007, Google Switzerland finally found its futuristic home in the Hürlimann area. As Industry Head Switzerland, Thomas Hanan is primarily concerned with "developing the agency market". Traditional media agencies and specialized online marketers are "trained" by his team on how to get the most out of a budget with Google. The impact of online advertising and its potential are well known today. "However, there is still a great need for development," says Hanan. Although we in Switzerland have one of the best broadband networks in the world and the highest Internet penetration, the proportion of online advertising is still less than 2 percent, compared to 20 in England and over 10 in Germany. "Many media people who have mainly been active in the traditional media up to now still lack the specialized know-how," Hanan notes. To enable advertisers to venture as far as possible into the jungle of the World Wide Web without losing their bearings, Google now offers a special certification. Media specialists and agencies who have attended and successfully completed the Google courses can use the title "Google Advertising Professional".
The internet not only influences opinion-forming by being the first point of contact for obtaining information. "It also influences the purchasing process," Hanan is convinced. Anyone who is about to make a new purchase, wants to compare cars, book travel or even buy a house, first looks for information online. AdWords are therefore Google's most important offering on the world's largest search portal. Clearly defined search terms such as "vacation in Greece", "vacuum cleaner" or "poster by Andy Warhol" can be used to place paid information that appears at the top of the screen when a search query is made. These text ads are highlighted in yellow on the Google screen and are therefore clearly separated from the generic area of the search results. The position of this information, which is generated according to a very complex system of statistics and quality, cannot be influenced with money. In this way, the world's largest search engine wants to remain true to its most important principle: "Google always puts the user first."
Before Thomas Hanan found his way to this company, which now has 7,000 employees worldwide, he started with an internship at Credit Suisse in Zurich. The son of an American father and a German mother studied business administration and marketing in Denver. As astronomy has always been his hobby and the highest observatory in the world is part of the university, he also completed a second degree in this subject. "It was an education for the mind," he says, describing his feelings when looking at the stars.
His entry into the web was at Multi Media Development MMD. After returning to Switzerland, Hanan helped to set up this subsidiary of PubliGroupe and then opened the Zurich office for Yahoo. Before moving to Google five years ago, Hanan took a timeout and lived under the stars for another six months. As a skipper, he ferried sailing yachts to the Caribbean. Today, he also enjoys cruising in front of his apartment in Feldmeilen.
Andreas Panzeri
