Google in TV Marketing and PR Storm
May 6, 2011
Two items caught my attention today (May 4, 2011). First, I noticed the New York Times’s story “Google Takes to TV to Promote Browser.” The link may go dead or cost money so you will have to track down a hard copy or turn a cartwheel.) The point of the story is that the Google TV in its various incarnations did not light a fire here in Harrod’s Creek nor elsewhere. How does Google fix this? The New York Times astutely points out that marketing is needed. Okay, but I was thinking a product that solved a problem would be useful too. The write up is a long one and it dances around the big story for me: Google has to figure out how to market a consumer product. Microsoft takes three shots before sinking a short jumper. How many for Google? More than one for certain.
The second item is the big marketing and PR push for Chrome. Is Chrome an operating system? Is Chrome a browser? Is Chrome both? I still wonder how Chrome complements or competes with Android. The article I read was “Chrome Ads Are Google’s Biggest Offline Campaign Ever.” With Google’s formidable online advertising system, why does Google rely on old-fashioned, “offline” ads? If Google’s online marketing system won’t work for Google, will that alert those who think like me that Adwords is not enough? I can only speak for myself. The answer is, “Yes, Google’s use of offline advertising calls into question the efficacy of its own online system.”
Google’s offline method is working. In fact, here’s a somewhat interesting factoid from the Huffington Post write up:
Last month, Google’s chief financial officer Patrick Pichette told analysts, “On a tactical basis, everybody that uses Chrome is a guaranteed locked-in user for us in terms of having access to Google.” As with many of its videos, Google said that the ad tells a true story, though it changed the real names and used actors. The spots lack the playful aesthetic of earlier Chrome campaigns, but they’re clearly going for a wider audience. Today’s ad, It Gets Better, has already racked up over 170,000 views and mixes YouTube videos, Blogger and news videos. It tells the story of the It Gets Better project for LGBT teens facing harassment through Google Chrome.
Using both online and offline media to sell a message makes sense. But—and this is a lingering but—why does Google TV and Google Chrome warrant such massive reworking, remessaging, and remarketing? My hunch is that Google may be reacting to signals predicting a slow uptake. Which is easier? Develop a product that people want or must have or leave the product pretty much undifferentiated and throw money into the marketing and PR department’s cubicles.
Apple does the “need and want” thing. Google seems to be doing what US auto makers did in the 1970s: good old fashioned marketing and PR. What happened to good old innovation in search?
The Google is ageing, maybe maturing. Let marketing shoulder the bags of rice.
Stephen E Arnold, May 6, 2011
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