Google uses billboards to attract new clients

There, commuters whizzing or crawling to work on the Massachusetts Turnpike will see a billboard advertising Google Apps, an Internet-based alternative to Microsoft’s popular Office suite of computer programs.

And to make sure drivers pay attention, Google will post a different message on the billboard every weekday this month. The messages will recount the saga of a corporate computer manager who turns to Google Apps to cut costs and improve worker productivity.

“It’s sort of an internal monologue,’’ said Google product marketing manager Vivian Leung. “We hope that they’ll follow this story through the month.’’

Similar billboards will be displayed near major highways in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

It’s not Google’s first use of billboard advertising. In 2004, the company posted complex math problems on a roadside sign in California’s Silicon Valley to recruit mathematicians and engineers. The forthcoming campaign is meant to help Google recruit new corporate customers for Google Apps, which features word processing, spreadsheet, presentation graphics, calendar, and e-mail software.

Microsoft Office, which offers similar features, is one of the world’s most popular software products, commanding more than 90 percent of the global market for productivity software suites. Corporate users pay Microsoft as much as $400 for a copy of Office, which is installed on each worker’s computer.

Google Apps, on the other hand, is a “cloud computing’’ service that resides on server computers connected to the Internet. Companies or individuals can rent access to Apps for $50 per user per year. Google says 1.75 million businesses and organizations have already shifted to Google Apps, including Motorola Inc. and the University of Notre Dame.

Google handles about 90 percent of the world’s Internet searches and about 75 percent of those in the United States, according to Internet traffic tracking firm StatCounter.

The company has grown huge by selling advertising space on its own site and many others. But lately, Google has been branching out in ways that directly challenge Microsoft.

Apart from its newly aggressive effort to sell Google Apps, last month Google said it will produce its own operating system software for personal computers, in a direct assault on Microsoft’s dominant Windows software.

“Google still makes most of its money from search, and they’re looking for different ways to generate revenue,’’ said Sheri McLeish, an industry analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge.

McLeish noted that while Google has ramped up its efforts in the office productivity software market, Microsoft will next year introduce the newest version of its Office suite. Microsoft will offer a simplified online version of the new software free of charge, in a bid to compete against Google Apps. McLeish said her research found that 40 percent of US businesses have delayed buying new office productivity software because of the recession, adding that these companies may soon be ready to upgrade.

“It’s shaping up to be a very interesting year next year,’’ McLeish said.

Leung wouldn’t say how much Google is spending on the ad campaign, but she added, “We’re usually pretty lean with the way we market.’’

She added that Google will recycle the vinyl sheets used on the billboards, using the material to make plastic laptop cases. Leung said Google hasn’t decided what to do with the cases, but may give them away at no charge to people who request one.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.