by Jonathan Marshall
Companies that make the move don’t see “mailbox is full” errors in their email. They don’t worry about backing up their data. They can get to any file they need from any internet-ready computer. They can access and edit the same documents and spreadsheets with their colleagues simultaneously. They use Gmail and Google Calendar at work as fluidly and easily as they use their personal Gmail accounts. They video, voice and text chat within the same system. They do everything, and it’s much easier. So what is this move?
This move many companies are making is a move up to the ideal world that Google wants to create with their new advertising campaign. In this campaign, they have a term for the moment a company realizes there’s a better way and goes for it: “going Google.” What is it with Google and their self-describing action verbs? (i.e. “google it.”)….
Anyway, according to Google, over 1.75 million businesses, schools and organizations have gone Google — including Motorola, University of Notre Dame, the Mercy Corps and many more. And it doesn’t stop there, 3000 more organizations join them every day.
Google kicked off their new ad campaign with a series of outdoor billboards in four major cities — Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. The messages on the billboards will change every weekday for four weeks. The billboards tell the story of an anonymous IT manager who gets so fed up with the typical IT status quo that his company eventually goes Google.
Its nice to see a well-recognized brand like Google step out of it’s digital element a little bit and try a different approach to their advertising methods. That’s what happens when you become that big- instead of differentiating yourself and trying to gain market share, you do whatever you think is necessary to stay in the minds of your audience. And it’s not like outdoor advertising is dead and gone, billboards are still a very effective advertising medium.