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Google, search no more. Greensboro is here for you.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010
(Updated Wednesday, March 10 - 5:36 am)

Google, we’re serious. And we haven’t even changed our name to Googlesboro.

At least not yet.

But tune in this weekend to the ACC men’s basketball tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum, and look for it — the GoogleGreensboro crate, the GoogleGreensboro T-shirts and “GoogleGreensboro’’ splashed across some college student’s chest. Really. There’s talk about that.

And that’s just the beginning.

We’re gunning to grab your attention any way we can — YouTube, Internet ads, wacky contests and a $10,000 marketing campaign — because we want to become a test market for the fiber-optic initiative you rolled out last month.

Of course, we love what we hear. Who wouldn’t? You want to offer affordable broadband access that is 100 times faster than anything we’ve got now. That is crazy fast.

We hear if the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, were to scan everything in its collection — more than 32 million books and 61 million manuscripts — someone with Google Fiber would need only one day to download it.

One day.

But more importantly, we hear how your initiative could help reinvent communities by creating jobs, attracting people and spurring all kinds of innovation by building what essentially is a larger lane on the information highway.

And in our city, where unemployment is higher than 11 percent , we need all the help we can get.

So, you’re our Willy Wonka, and we want your Golden Ticket.

You want to test-market your stuff in a city with between 50,000 to 500,000 people? We are right there, smack-dab in the middle, with nearly 260,000 people .

But it seems everyone and their grandmother is downright giddy over Google.

Durham wants to get thousands of people to spell “We Want Google’’ at Durham Athletic Park, the baseball home of the Bulls, and Topeka, Kan., will call itself all this month “Google, Kansas — The Capital City of Fiber Optics.’’

But think of us. You’ll see us. For real.

Dynamic Quest , a business technology company in Greensboro, has put Internet ads on Google within a 20-mile radius of Googleplex in Mountain View, Calif. That means whenever someone in your Google empire Googles, they’ll see a three-line ad that says in short: Pick Us.

They’re doing that for free.

Meanwhile, our city’s sea of bloggers have jumped on-board with various Web sites, including a Facebook page — Bring Google Fiber to Greensboro, NC! — that already has 3,644 members.

Then there’s www.googlegreensboro.com . Our city launched the site Friday, and on Monday, it began asking the creative among us to upload video clips and write blog posts that’ll give you an idea of how Google could make Greensboro a better place.

Greensboro’s RLF Communications orchestrated that for a price: $10,000. That includes managing the Web site, producing YouTube spots with local celebrities, coming up with promotional ideas and managing a contest that’ll get the attention of Rachel Whetstone , one of your executives.

It’s something called “Six Degrees of GoogleGreensboro Separation.’’ She’ll see it.

In a tough economy, where we in Greensboro all know somebody without a job, people wonder whether that’s tax money well spent. But think about the implications — more jobs, more innovation, more everything.

And think of Jay Ovittore . He’s 37 , a house painter who has no houses to paint. So, he sits at home for hours managing the Facebook site because he believes in your potential for his hometown.

“When you’re staring down the barrel of 11 percent unemployment, you have to do something,’’ says Ovittore, who moved to Greensboro from New Jersey when he was 17. “The same-old, same-old is not going to cut it.’’

So, Google, when you get our city’s proposal later this month, remember us.

We’re worth it.

Contact Jeri Rowe at 373-7374 or jeri.rowe@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Tim Rickard
Additional Photos

Comments

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writermike

March 9, 2010 - 8:41 am EST

Well done, Jeri, very well done indeed!

newtogso

March 9, 2010 - 10:29 am EST

Agreed....very well written. Nice job.

mmarkwell

March 9, 2010 - 1:52 pm EST

Jeri, with all due respect you provided absolutely no reason for Google to select Gboro that would benefit Google only what {might} benefit Gboro. The fact that our area has an unemployment rate of 11 % is of no benefit to Google. Frankly your story sounded like a desparate plea rather than a confident statement of benefits to Google that would impress Google executives to choose our locale over let say, Seattle. Persuading Google should be done from a position of strength not a cry for help to a city that is trying to remake itself into something that it is not - a high tech mecca. Perhaps councilman Perkins had it right when he said that we would likely have to "lure" {bribe} Google with a "pile of cash". Not exactly showing Google a strong hand if all we got is money to throw them. There is no amount of cash that would impress Google - they are sitting on about $24 billion right now. So what benefits does our location offer to Google versus our competition? 11% unemployment??

InventorNC

March 9, 2010 - 7:50 pm EST

Amen mm. Anyone and any group that treats itself without self-respect is gonna be treated with no respect.

Our challenge now is to figure out what we have that is unique - then figure out how to package it and sell it.

But first I am quite concerned about what Google is saying they will do for Greensboro. What do they expect from us if we invite them in the party? And what is the downside? Will we be selling our souls in exchange for a minor effort like the tiny one in Cleveland?

Greensboro has always been a transportation hub. Transportation: that is why the city was site of battles in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. Transportation is different now, we have gone from horses to trucks and planes. We are keeping up to date with these changes: the FedEx air and truck hubs being built here put us right in the front row of a bright future.

This ain't chopped liver! This is a big deal. Greensboro, and the Triad is going to have immense needs for infrastructure to support the distribution and manufacturing infrastructure that is now being built here - and is sure to become ever bigger as soon as the new hubs begin operating. Most important will be the need for world class communications in an area that has world class commercial facilities. We will get the systems one way or the other, there is no doubt of that. Maybe Google would like to be a part of our exciting times.

Donnell DJ Hardy

March 10, 2010 - 10:42 am EST

I agree with the line of discussion that says we need a large over-arching concept to give us a competitive edge to put us ahead of all the noise. I think the unemployment bend isn't unwise though. We are in a downturn and nowhere is this felt harsher than in small towns with populations under 500,000...as well as in towns where the industry has been shipped overseas like NC...like Greensboro. I think the fact that we lack an identified industry cluster that has brimming future prospects gives Google the opportunity to set up their stuff and get our engine humming again. Picture this...

Their marketing possibilities would be endless if they came to town and by laying their infrastructure created a "boom town". If they could even take partial credit for putting Greensboro on a new technology plateau, this would create seemingly endless demand for their services...and this is the sort of thing that ushers in a new era.

Some minds over in Europe got the wise idea to create factories in order to increase production and ushered in the Industrial Revolution. I believe we stand at the cusp of a similar time...the question is are we bold enough to jump at the chance to usher in a new age or do we sit and wait like we did as a state and nation before and find ourselves where we are today with our landscape littered with factories of an era of which we caught the bitter tail end.

Dogwood

March 9, 2010 - 5:22 pm EST

"Working together we can do more" is a good quote from Nelson Mandela. Greensboro can do more with each of us working together. I agree begging due to unemployment was unwise. We have great skills to offer.

InventorNC

March 9, 2010 - 7:20 pm EST

I don't recall seeing how many users Google would intend to wire up in Greensboro. I think Cleveland had one school and about 100 residences total! That's not what you would call a rousing deal for any city. Am I misinformed? How many users would Google plan to hook up to their super-fast system.

triadwatch

March 9, 2010 - 8:19 pm EST

nice puff piece brought to you by RLF Communication , Action Greensboro, and $10,000 from the taxpayers now onto spending the rest of the $40,000 that City Councilman Robbie Perkins pulled out of his butt at a council meeting about a month ago.

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