Good old Marketing channels!!

Found this interesting article, which made me stop in my tracks and reconsider the changing scenario:

Google Inc., which helped popularize the idea of automated ad sales on the Web, has been quietly turning to an old-fashioned tool—phone calls—to compete in the hot market for local business advertising.

The Internet-search giant this year has hired several hundred sales representatives to call U.S. businesses such as spas, restaurants and hotels to promote new advertising initiatives, people familiar with the matter said. The effort includes an office in Tempe, Ariz., with around 100 sales representatives, one of these people said.

This clearly points to the need to integrate the New Media options effectively with what we now lovingly call "The Traditional media". After all , Google is pretty much our inspiration to steadily turn digital, and if they cannot ignore traditional methods of Marketing, its a lesson for our Brand Managers!