Regional Google chief set for a brave new world

Asia-Pacific is starting to experience a trickle-down effect from the burst of activity Google has initiated globally, from mobile tie-ups to online video ads. Crid Yu, the search engine's recently appointed head of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, is bracing himself for the floodgates to open.

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Primarily tasked with overseeing revenues and commercial activities in his new role, Yu splits his time on three fronts: working with advertisers, strengthening relationships with business partners and forging new ones, as well as exploring and exploiting wireless opportunities.

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"Google has become international and not just a US-based company, in line with our goal to make international information universally accessible," says Yu.

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Despite remaining in the technology field throughout his career, Yu's current role is a giant leap from his days as graduate from the University of California Berkeley with a PhD in electrical engineering. He spent eight years working as associate principal for McKinsey & Company, before moving onto Philips Semiconductors as director of business development of its emerging businesses unit.

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"This role that I have now is one of the most professionally satisfying roles that I've had, because it really does call on all parts of my previous experience," he says. "But the best parts of the job are almost the most challenging, because everyday I come across something that I haven't seen before, because I'm working across so many markets."

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From its launch in a garage in September 1998, Google has rapidly evolved as an efficient and popular search engine, with the phrase to 'Google' now embedded in everyday pop culture, something that's not likely to change in the near future. Over the years however, Google has itself been slowly shifting its stance.

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One recent move of note has been deals with Vodafone in Europe and Motorola globally, which will see the mobile service providers integrate Google's search functions into their own systems. Although there has not been a formal announcement on similar plans for Asia-Pacific, Yu notes it would be a natural progression. "I definitely hope so," he says. "The initiative is global, and we have been engaging in discussions around the world. It makes sense when you take a black and white reading of our mission statement — particularly in Asia where mobile penetration is much higher than PC penetration, where mobile usage is much more active in terms of various data and content services that people use."

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The initiative was first attempted five years ago when the technology first became available, but failed to gain traction in what was a comparatively undeveloped market.  However, since Google signed these latest deals, Yu says advertisers and their agencies across the region have displayed significant demand for the channel.

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Another notable initiative has been the introduction of pay-per-click video ads in Japan,
and North America through Google's content network. When consumers opt to see an ad Google charges advertisers either on a cost-per-impression or a cost-per-click basis, giving brand-owners a potentially rich medium to communicate with their end target consumers.

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And in a bid to tap into the more romantically-minded, Google also launched a 'Best break-up' story component for people to contribute to its Google Video catalogue, providing a more accessible, lighthearted touch-point between potential advertisers and consumers. But although Yu prefers to avoid heralding the most recent developments as a fundamental shift in Google's core proposition, he points out that evolution is necessary to stay ahead of the game.
"I definitely think Google is a much more complete company," he says. "Our strategic direction has never really changed in the sense that we have always remained true to our mission, but our mission really is quite broad. To be able to offer our products and services that users have enjoyed on their desktop, to be able to offer this to even more users potentially in Asia on their mobile devices, is a very logical step for us to take."

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Google's revenue is mostly driven by new business opportunities Yu notes, with part of his job to explain and sell products such as AdWords, which enables advertisers to automate online advertising, and AdSense, which offers a similar service to websites. For Yu, a little patience also helps.

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"The two products are very interesting in that they offer a number of advantages over traditional media, and overcome some of the traditional limitations, but it does take a while to be able to appreciate those advantages," he says.