Google Home gets ‘Beauty & The Beast’ promo but Google says it’s not an ad

Ask Google Home what your day is like today, and it will remind you that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is opening today. Google says this isn’t an ad. But it’s definitely an out-of-the-ordinary cooperation with a Google Home “partner.”

The promotion was spotted by Bryson Meunier, whose child was definitely excited to hear the news delivered by Google Home (listen for the cute “yeah!” at the end):

Here it is on my own Google Home:

Google sent Search Engine Land this statement:

This isn’t an ad; the beauty in the Assistant is that it invites our partners to be our guest and share their tales.

That’s a head-scratcher. Disney is the company behind Beauty and the Beast. Disney is not one of the official “partners” listed for Google Home.

Moreover, this isn’t something that any partner could simply make happen without Google’s deep cooperation, to my understanding.

So, it might not be an ad in term of a direct exchange of cash, but it seems very much a special promotion that’s seemingly a first for Google Home — and likely the first of many to come.

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Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan is a Founding Editor of Marketing Land. He’s a widely cited authority on search engines and search marketing issues who has covered the space since 1996. Danny also serves as Chief Content Officer for Third Door Media, which publishes Marketing Land and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo conference series. He has a personal blog called Daggle (and keeps his disclosures page there). He can be found on Facebook, Google + and microblogs on Twitter as @dannysullivan.

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