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November 2006 - Strategy Magazine
Special Report: Brand of the Year

Big brand love: Marketers share their faves

Since brands increasingly live in a 'ME'diaverse, with less mass and more narrowly etched niche consumer groups, strategy decided to get the WOM perspective on Brand of the Year. And who better to wax deeply about a brand than the folks who build them? Herewith a male and a female marketer, one from Vancouver and the other from outside Toronto share their "Brands of the Year" - ones they not only admire professionally, but, it seems, that they simply can't live without.

Why Google is like Kleenex

When you first discovered it:

I first discovered Google in the late '90s. I heard of it through friends. It delivered the results my friends said it would. It [then] became my starting point for any search.

From a marketing perspective, why its branding works:

Quite simply, everyone understands what Google is. The fascinating aspect for me is that I can't recall a single television ad, print ad or any other form of advertising enticing me to use Google. It has been able to survive on word of mouth. It meets, if not exceeds, the expectations of its users and ultimately, delivers on its promise.

It has an unusual name which can been adopted and recognized by people from any culture. Those who use it, benefit from it. This generates return visits. Return visits create loyalty. Loyalty creates positive word of mouth. Positive word of mouth creates mass promotion. Intense promotion creates a billion dollar business. This produces a brand with the ability to transcend any demographic in any country around the world. Add it all up and you have a brand as strong as or stronger than the oldest of blue chip companies.

And amazingly, Google officially launched in 1998.

Parting thoughts:

Google is a part of our life. It has become what Kleenex is to paper tissues in a fraction of the time. I am a loyal user and I have welcomed the Google brand into my personal and professional life. Don't we all dream of having a brand like Google to own, work with or represent?

A Starbucks addict comes clean

Vancouver

What it means to you:

Starbucks is a great success story of how to make an international chain feel just like a local coffee shop. My local Starbucks is the first place that I've ever really been a regular. The staff there know me, they know my husband, they know our dog. They write messages on my cup in the morning and give me presents on my birthday.

A strong supporter of helping out the little guy, I'm usually the last person to pick a chain over an independent, but the atmosphere and excellent customer relations (and of course great coffee) provide the intimacy that is so often absent from a large organization. My Starbucks even has a bulletin board to post [notices of] local garage sales, concerts, plays and lost and found - all this is in downtown Vancouver!

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