Google now the top global brand

Jonathan Bowers, April 28th 2008, 12:23PM

Google is once again the biggest brand in the world, well according to one report at least. Admittedly, the said report is from highly respected market research agency Millward Brown and it has the online search engine titan as top dog in the corporate branding stakes for the second year running.

The new Millward Brown list of top 100 brands is once again dominated by technology companies with 6 of the top 10 coming from the IT field. However, previous brand king Microsoft has fallen to third to leave Google as the undisputed brand leader. Or has it, according to an alternative list by Interbrand Google ranked only 20th in 2007.

The discrepancy seems to be down to just how rapidly the Google brand is growing. While the Interbrand 2007 list has Google in 20th place it also says the brand had grown by 44% over the previous 12 months, a figure that blows all of the other top 100 brands out of the water. It is therefore perhaps understandable that a year on Google would be the top brand worldwide.

The Millward Brown list is compiled by evaluating both tangible financials and intangible customer opinion. In terms of the tangibles, Google certainly made big waves last year. Profits were up 40% to $4.2 billion in 2007.

Meanwhile, what about the intangibles? Well ask a random person on the street to name an online search engine and chances are they will say Google. Similarly, ask them to describe the Google logo and, again, the likelihood is they can.

It certainly seems Google is king at the moment. Its impressive profits, extremely recognisable profile and market sector dominance undoubtedly makes it the Tiger Woods of brands.

Meanwhile, looking just at the UK sector, Vodafone has taken over as the top British brand and in doing so has provided a useful example that brand success and profits are not necessarily mutual. In fact, ironically Vodafone's bottom line has taken a bit of a beating lately partly because it has been pursuing an aggressive acquisition policy to expand its brand strength globally. Time will tell if boosting its brand will work for Vodafone.

Also of interest is the continued recovery of Marks & Spencer. The British retailer has had an iconic brand for a long time, however its value has fluctuated a great deal in the last few years. Happy for it, the brand is looking in good shape again as M&S is the top British retail brand and the fourth highest overall.

The recover has been multipronged. To rebuild its reputation M&S has revamped its stores, refocused on core product lines and, of course, delivered a highly successful ad campaign that reports suggest brought in £2.5 for every £1 spent. Other successful strategies included a remodelling of the company website, which resulted in a 78% increase in online Christmas sales last year. The morale of the M&S story seems to be: keep it fresh and current.

Tags: adwords, brand, google, internet, search_terms
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Yahoo too proud for Microsoft's advances

Jonathan Bowers, April 18th 2008, 4:07PM

What is it about Microsoft that it seems no one wants to play with them? The global computing giant has issued an unsolicited $43 billion offer to buy Yahoo but the online portal seems to be willing to do almost anything to avoid getting into bed with Microsoft.

The logic of the move is clear to me: by teaming up both Yahoo and Microsoft can, for the first time, realistically take on search engine leader Google. This is a strategic view that I'm sure is appreciated throughout the IT community with the exception of Yahoo's senior management it seems.

In fact Yahoo's tactics appear to be to go the opposite way completely, by teaming up with Google in a deal that can surely only strengthen the search engine king's grip on its throne. Yahoo has agreed to enter a trial of using Google AdSense, which will deliver relevant Google ads alongside Yahoo's own search results. Yahoo is also reportedly in talks to take over Time Warner's AOL internet assets. All this, it seems, to thwart Microsoft.

But why? Is it because Yahoo is fiercely independent? Or is it just fiercely opposed to being bought by Microsoft? Either way I believe that Yahoo has its sense of who is its biggest competition badly skewed.

By partnering up with Microsoft, Yahoo would have the ability to take on Google for the status of the largest online search portal worldwide (and the financial prizes that come with it). Instead, by teaming with Google and taking on its technology, Yahoo is effectively announcing that Google is better. This amounts to Google standing on the summit of Mount Internet Search Engine and then Yahoo handing it a Yahoo branded box to stand on.

Yahoo would no doubt argue that it is not just a search portal and that being number one in that regard is not the be-all and end-all. It may even add that a tie-up with Google will help drive traffic to its other portal services thus strengthening its overall standing. However, for me, it seems as though business sense has given way to good old-fashioned pride. Yahoo likes being a big fish in its own pond and it does not want to be a small fish in Microsoft's vast silicone sea!

And meanwhile, everyone else with a vested interest in the internet, from managed hosting providers to mortgage advisors , lose out. Google is already starting to throw its weight around by changing its Adword rules to glean higher profits and now Yahoo has demonstrated that it is safe to continue its anticompetitive policies.

Tags: adwords, google, internet, search, search_terms
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Google devalues trademarks with Adwords changes

Jonathan Bowers, April 11th 2008, 12:25PM

May 5th is set to be a watershed date in the UK internet arena but unfortunately not for a good reason in my opinion. Internet search goliath Google will be fundamentally changing its search engine paid ranking rules to bring them in line with its North American policy and the UK business community is not happy.

Google intends to allow open keyword bidding on trademarked terms for the first time in the UK, a move that will effectively allow any company to gatecrash the pay-per-click efforts of others under what I would consider false pretences.

Basically, the outgoing system ensures that if a searcher includes a trademarked term anywhere within their search criterion, the company holding the trademark will appear at the top of the sponsor links (if they have placed a bid). However, under the incoming system the highest bidder, regardless of whether they are the trademark owner or not, will come top.

For example, in theory if BMW top bid on the term ‘Audi’ it would appear top of a search for ‘Audi’, above its rival even though Audi’s name has been directly used in the search box. Google says its new rules will ensure that BMW could not quote Audi or Audi’s URL in its ad, instead it must quote the address the link goes to and that searchers will be able to discern the situation from this. However, I totally disagree.

My understanding of searcher behaviour is that they go to Google because they fundamentally trust the accuracy of its results. Because of this, I believe searchers will automatically click on top matches without appreciating the reason for their top listing.

And it is not just the searcher who is losing out. Online companies will also lose out because the top bidders will be effectively stealing their traffic, leaving them with the only option of handing over more pay-per-click cash to Google to keep on top.

Google has defended its policy change, saying that it will offer searchers more choice in the sponsors’ results section. However, cynics, including myself, aren’t buying this justification. The fact that this revenue driving change comes as Google has been experiencing a reduction in its Adword income for the first time is more than a coincidence in my opinion.

In fact, far from improving the choice available to customers, we at UKFast believe that search results will actually be compromised by the new rules, as searchers will be getting more generalised returns than before. They will actually be getting the returns the big spending advertisers want, while Google will be getting the financial returns it wants.

These new rules leave Google’s ethos, of delivering best quality search matches, in tatters.

Tags: adwords, google, trademarks
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