The flirtation with classic marketing vehicles reached a pinnacle last weekend when Google jumped aboard the big brand band wagon and aired its first ever 60 second spot on national US prime time television. "Hell has frozen over" tweeted Google chief executive Eric Schmidt as the search engine giant forked out an estimated $5 million to huddle up alongside Taco Bell, Chrysler, Budweiser and the 15 other big name advertisers that secured airtime during Sunday's Super Bowl event.

So why have Google and Co started to dabble with traditional media vehicles?  What interest does the 60 second Prime time TV spot have for a sector that has flourished on the social and viral marketing tactics they invented?  From where we're sitting two big reasons spring to mind (If you can think of others help us out in the comment section at the bottom).

Firstly, while we'd be the last ones to dispute the phenomenal power that social marketing delivers, even today it's essentially still the world's most talked about platform of - as yet -unrealised potential. Google and Co are agents of change behind a paradigm shift in the way we communicate, which is pretty mega, but even in the internet age a paradigm shift doesn't happen overnight. Read any potted history on Gutenberg's printing press and you'll almost certainly come away with the notion that by 1500 absolutely "everybody" was reading the bible at a time when, actually, less than 10 percent of Europe's population was deemed literate (often because they were able to write no more than their own name!). Ask the average Sunday church congregation what was so good about Gutenberg's movable type gizmo in 1550 and the vacant looks you'd get probably wouldn't be that dissimilar to the bamboozlement a question like "Have you tried Chrome or Firefox" inspires in the crowd down the Crown & Cushion today. (I'll have a pint of Chrome if you're asking).

Google and Co's community of interest is outgrowing the social marketing tactics available in the current landscape. The battle for search engine dominance has been fought and won on the internet, but the next big contenders don't really play there. Yellow Pages, Vs Google Maps; Blockbusters Vs YouTube,  AT&T Vs Skype: these are the big box office events that the online giants are now ready to fight, and winning requires them to play in a wider field.

This brings us to the second reason that our major online players have set their sights towards "traditional" media: Using it is the first step towards influencing it. The chiasm between the TV and the PC is caving in. Within the next 18 months most new TVs bought on the high street will come "internet ready". YouTube will be as accessible as BBC or Channel 4 and on demand iPlayers like seesaw will enter the arena to shake up on demand offerings like BBC iPlayer or 4oD. The 30 second TV commercial may not have had its day, but how we come to see could become less to do with the region we live in and more to do with the content we choose to watch.

This contextual ad model is the goal of Google TV: Now in its third year current analyst buzz suggests that 2010 could be the make or break year for Google's little known venture into "old" media. Google TV aims to replicate the phenomenal success of Ad Sense on television by creating an auctions bid system for ad space sales. This enables small and large advertisers alike to target very specific audiences, right down to the individual. Et voila. The circle is complete.

So far, Google TV has struggled a little, but as we said, even in the internet age, a paradigm shift doesn't happen overnight. US based satellite TV provider Dish Networks is currently the system's highest profile user. But as the traditional model of the national TV network crumbles, Google looks well primed to pick up the pieces.