webPR.ro: Steffen Ehrhardt, Google: Romania is the region's sleeping giant, it has an immense potential for Google

Romania is a „hot” candidate for a local Google office, Google specialist and manager for emerging markets Steffen Ehrhardt said in an interview for HotNews.ro-WebPr.ro, discussing with reporter Costin Ionescu. In the opinion of the Google specialist, Romania is „the sleeping giant of the region”, with immense potential for Google’s plans and products.

One of Steffen Ehrhardt’s responsibilities in his role for Google is to contribute to the launch of new products on emerging markets, support training programmes and represent the region in various global teams. According to him, Google wants to strengthen the online search segment on each market, advertising on mobile, YouTube and local publicity.

Google will promote the consecrated product first on the emerging markets, plus the advertising through the search engine. Steffen Ehrhardt believes there is a huge potential in the region. He always compares Romania with Poland and, so far, the difference is significant. According to him, the Romanian market needs to progress and develop and the Romanian advertisement clients need to use the already existent online facilities. In the near future, studies will be carried out to see what new services and products could be brought to the region.

Asked to describe the region’s potential of absorbing new Google and older Google products, Steffen Ehrhardt said: „I could say that Romania is the sleeping giant of the region”. Some products are conceived for the big markets only, and Romania will definitely be part of the equation.

Adriatics & Bulgaria, Croatia Google manager Hreben Suknaic declared in the beginning of the RoNewMedia 4.0 conference on Tuesday that Google has a project for opening an office in Romania, but not in the immediate future. Steffen Ehrhardt opinionated that Romania was „a hot candidate” for a local representative office, but Google needed to assess all existent possibilities and find the right people first.

Regarding the products to be promoted in the region, Steffen Ehrhardt focuses on local advertising. He claims this would be an important solution for Romania, where many businesses are led at a local level and this service would facilitate their PR in a certain region.