Dr Michael Gruneberg, a psychologist who specialises in memory improvement, developed his system of image association in the 1970s. He created some trial language courses based on his method and tested one with a travel company and its employees in 1982. After 12 hours tuition, the students were virtually flawless on a 400 word list of grammar and vocabulary. An independent consultant, unaware of the method they had used, estimated they must have had 40 hours of instruction. After years of stop-start licensing ventures with book publishing and computer software companies, Gruneberg licensed the course rights to a company in the United States, and it was they who turned to Google AdWords to reach customers.

 

A combination of immediacy and relevancy has worked very well for Linkword Languages. The decision to study a foreign language is not usually a spontaneous one, and the Google search network reaches customers at the very moment they are looking for a product like his. Gruneberg also knew from previous experience with his product that the best way to get people hooked was to demonstrate it early. So he made sure his ads linked to a webpage with a prominent working demo.

 

The level of control AdWords offers has also been beneficial. "What I really like about AdWords is the control you have over costs," says Gruneberg. "When we advertise in a newspaper, we might spend £1000, blind, with no idea whether we're going to get it back or not. With Google AdWords, you know that you've got day-to-day control over how much you spend. You can tell at a glance whether you're making a profit on a particular day, at any point during the day. That's incredibly useful – especially when you are a new company, just starting out."

 

Over 25 years, more than 750,000 courses based on Dr Gruneberg's methods have been sold, and the great majority of these sales have taken place in the past five years, thanks to AdWords. "The fact is, without Google, I wouldn't be here," Gruneberg reflects. He adds, "It became so successful in America, relatively, that I decided to give up my job at the University of Swansea and to set up my own operation in the UK."

 

"The future looks very bright. The huge difference it has made is that it has generated enough funds to enable me to develop more courses." Linkword now offers courses in different formats, such as audio- and e-books, and at a range of levels, from quick vocabulary guides, to beginners' courses, to more advanced courses suitable for someone going to live in a country. Without doubt, Google has now enabled Linkword to stand up against the major companies. Gruneberg concludes, "Even companies starting from nothing have a chance of getting to the top of the tree. I couldn't have the budget for advertising that big companies have. But the way that AdWords operates, you can rise to the top."