Discussion questions:
1. Critically evaluate which target markets Google is appealing to.
2. Critically analyse why Google chose the umbrella brand strategy. What are the weaknesses of using an umbrella brand strategy?
“Google’s Googlers (their employees) create and design a range of products and services under the worldwide 2nd highest ranking brand. There are over 40,000 Googlers who ask the question “what can Google develop for you?” By asking this question every day Google stays in touch with the consumers and gives them solutions to their problems and of course products that consumers didn’t know they needed. The main products, familiar with Google and non-Google consumers, are: 1 Web-based products: These include the very simple and easy to use Google search engine. The fun thing about the search engine is the Google doodle logo – which has hundreds of different images showing Mother’s Day, An Earth Day quiz, and doodles of dancing Shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day and a special Google logo for Martin Luther King Jr Day. 2 Google Chrome – a super-fast web-browser for consumers and businesses. 3 Google Bookmarks – a filing system to help consumers organise and keep their favourite topics, videos or fashion pages at their fingertips.
For businesses there are also Google products: 1 Google AdSense, which is a free service for businesses that publish a webpage. If a business has a webpage, they can earn money by simply allowing other web-based publishers to post an advertisement on their site. 2 Google Hangouts – rivalling Skype for businesses that want to connect face-to-face with employees that are remote or have meetings with colleagues overseas. 3 Google AdWords – for businesses that want to attract more customers to their website or telephone number. A coffee shop in Leeds using AdWords can pay a small fee to have an advertisement viewed on Google. A consumer search for ‘coffee shop in Leeds’ will increase business by attracting more customers either globally or locally.
And for leisure there are: 1 Google books – which enables consumers to download books from the classics to children’s books to academic text books. Some books are free and some have a small fee. 2 Google play – is another fun platform for consumers on the go. Games, music and TV can be accessed and downloaded. There are also hundreds of magazines and newspaper articles available straight to PCs and Android phones. Other Google products and services under the umbrella brand include Google Maps, Google Translate, Google Drive, Google Scholar and YouTube. Google has something for everyone. Their Google products and services are provided under a range of subcategories which are: Web, mobile, business, media, geo, specialised search, home and office, social and innovation.
Source: www.google.co.uk
Be sure to reference your sources in appropriate Harvard formatting and to provide substantive evidence of any claims that you make. Where appropriate, include personal anecdotes, statistics, and references to additional reading or materials.
