Google is one of the world’s strongest and most recognizable brands. It has now launched new Gmail themes allowing logo and design personalization past the point of being recognizable. Is this bad brand management - or good brand strategy?
Google - a unified and powerful brand
Google, one of the strongest and most respected brands in the world, has recently soared into the top ten of Interbrand and Business Week’s global brand rankings. This new type of brand is steadily replacing older and more established brands such as Mercedes Benz. There are numerous reasons for this, not least that Google represents a young and “hot” industry, enjoying an enormous amount of brand exposure through its position as the world’s dominant search engine.
Google’s logo, design and user experience are distinct and instantly recognizable, although the company often plays with tailored logos for different occasions and employs sub-brands such as iGoogle and Gmail. However, Google’s overall identity follows the classic pattern of a strong, monolithic brand. There is never any doubt about identity when you are on a Google website: the logo in primary colors and the clean, white background with easy focus on links and functional symbols are hallmarks of the Google identity
Gmail now losing visual identity
But what happened with Gmail? On November 24th, Google Labs launched a new service, making it possible to personalize your Gmail page. You can choose between 30 different illustration themes (just like iGoogle – although there only the top banner changes while in Gmail it is the entire page), and an equally broad variety of logos, including ninja-inspired design, black and green Matrix-inspired design, cherry blossoms or just new colors. This drastically alters the entire identity of the Gmail page.
Off the mark or On brand?
Has Google started diluting the brand? Do they know what they are doing? Has Google Labs been given too much leeway? This is a common development when conflicts arise between those product developers and the guardians of brand equity. Those new and innovative business ideas are always more fun than the tried and tested core business. Product developers often feel that the new idea, the new function, the special sub product or the innovative project group needs a differentiated identity, something fresh and distinct from the mother brand. (Sounds familiar? Especially in the IT industry?) Giving in to these desires usually leads to branding practice that doesn’t build on the parent brand - and in fact often weakens it. Is this what’s happening at Google? Gmail users are generally more technical than internet users in general. They are maybe more advanced, more passionate and more innovative than the mainstream Google user. Is this what they claim when they seek to be less faithful to the Google identity?
Or do they know exactly what they are doing? One of the most important reasons for the success of the Google brand is it is built on a new branding discipline. Google represents a new trend popularly called “permission branding”. This means Google markets itself solely by being relevant, helpful and in the right place at the right time. This is not a brand that shouts and broadcasts and plasters its message on boards, ads or commercials. This isn’t a brand that spells out how wonderful it is. Google is present where you want it to be and is relevant and helpful on your own terms. External ads show up in a predictable location, based on what you are searching for. Products are developed based on what users want, then kept in “beta” after launch, constantly updated and enhanced.
Logo and visual identity have followed the same strategy. There is a relatively strict management of the Google logo. But that doesn’t mean they take themselves too seriously. And when it comes to the logo, Google wants to be perceived as very relevant. It let enthusiasts play with the logo(user logos can be viewed on the web site, but not distributed). They also tailor the logo to different occasions. The Irish warm to the Google brand when it is all green and shamrocks on St Patrick’s Day, March 17th.
The Google brand is genuinely concerned about what you think is relevant and helpful. They seek permission to be a good brand for you. And as consumers today we expect to be able to personalize license plates, ipods, sneakers, screen savers etc. Why not also something as personal as your email service?
So perhaps Google is developing yet another feature of the strong permission brand. They put the consumer in the driver seat on all dimensions of branding - including the visual identity. judging by what the users are saying, they could be on to something….
”… more cosmetic delights for Gmail themes” – www.cnet.com
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