Humour
Dear Google,
I'm still concerned with you as per my last letter but I have to call a spade a spade. You've made me laugh a few times recently and it's not often a company/brand can do that. Well except maybe the Mac versus PC ads. (No personal bias or anything.)
Recently, two things that you've done caught my eye and seem to demonstrate you indeed have quite the sense of humour.
The first one was flagged by a friend who noted the April Fool's Day joke you put out about Google Paper.
Rather brilliant I must say. Sources tell me that you actually had inquiries where people believed it to be a real product launch and were ready to buy it.
I suspect the rationale was "If it's done by Google it has to be good." You know your brand is strong when you can pull off an April Fool's Day joke and not upset customers.
The second funny thing was sent to me via email this past week. The steps are listed below. (Or just click on this link for the express line courtesy of GK)
1. Go to Google
2. Click on Maps
3. Click on 'Get Directions'
4. Type "Toronto" in the first box (the 'from' box)
5. Type "London" in the second box (the 'to' box)
6. Click on 'Get Directions'
7. Scroll down to step #26.
What a cheeky little monkey you are! Perhaps it's the little things like that which allow you to be in a position where you can acquire Double Click for $3 Billion or be ranked #1 amongst the most innovative companies in the world by Wired Magazine.
Humour is a tough thing to play with in marketing because it can backfire easily. There are countless examples one can refer to. But when you pull it off successfully it's impressive.
That is perhaps one reason why I enjoy travelling to London as the commercials there are hilarious. It's probably the only place where it's SuperBowl weekend every weekend.
So good on you Google. Having said that, I still maintain my point about bidding on branded keywords so you're not off the hook yet my friend.
Regards,
Sulemaan
