Google’s Web Designer creates ads for…it’s own ad networks (and more)

Last week, Harry McCracken of Time had a piece on Google and Larry Page’s moonshots. The reason was the search giant had just announced a new company, this one aimed not at putting driverless cars on the road or computerized glasses on our faces, but to instead reinvent health care.

Surprising, but not really surprising.  You see, every few months Google does something completely unexpected, putting out a new product or announcing a new effort that looks to reinvent an old industry or challenge conventions or, well, maybe help us cheat death.

McCracken –  and Page himself -  calls these efforts moonshots, and as an industry watcher they’re both fun to watch and analyze. And while the big moonshots happen probably once or twice a year, little moonshots (like the company’s recent Chromecast product) come along much more frequently.  And while mini-moonshots may not extend life or change the way we get from here to there, they’re big enough to cause huge ripples of change in whatever industry in which Google casts it at.

And today’s small (but potentially disruptive) moonshot? Their new Web Designer product. The effort, which is a drag-and-drop visual designer for creating one page interactive landing pages or ads, is basically a direct shot at Adobe products like Dreamweaver and Muse that are essentially the hammer and nail of web designer creative professionals.

After playing with it for a bit, it looks like a decent first effort, and unlike other offerings, it’s free.

And also, here’s another thing: it also allows users to create ads for Google advertising networks such as Doubleclick and Admob.

Another day, another moonshot.