Spotlight on the Google Doodle

One of the best things in life is change, and even better, innovation. There is something exciting about  coming to the same place every day and having something new and fresh pop up, just to teach you something, or just to make you smile.

Isn't Google awesome? Their Google Doodles are simply brilliant. By re-configuring their masthead in simple yet fun ways, they keep millions of cyber residents coming back, just to find the answer, not to their random questions which they eventually type into the Google search engine, but to a more burning question - What's today's doodle?

"Having a little bit of fun with the corporate logo by redesigning it from time to time is unheard of at many companies but at Google, it is a part of the brand. While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative personality of the company itself." - Google

The Google user experience is enhanced and user participation is encouraged, with users encouraged to submit doodle proposals to Google. The zipper doodle came out yesterday, celebrating Gideon Sundback, the guy who invented the zipper. Quite a random promotion, I agree, and not a fact I would have been able to blurt out on cue. I bet if you ask anyone today who invented the zipper, more than a few people may be able to at least give you a first name.

Doodle 4 Google also allows students to submit their own Google Doodle - a competition they have been hosting since 2008 - and recognising that "this crop of students will be tomorrow's leaders and inventors".

Google is truly living up to its brand promise of being an innovator, being on trend and being fun. A lot of oodle around the doodle from Google...and users love it.

Check out past Doodles here.

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Has Branding Gone to the Dogs?

Boo and George Stephanopoulos

I am obsessed with Boo. Not just because he is cute as a button, but he is a perfect example of the amazing effects of viral marketing and how it can create buzz and online engagement. Boo is a dog, for crying out loud – but a dog with over 3 million followers on Facebook. He is a social media darling! He simply had a case of knotted hair, needed a buzz-cut and the photo of the result went viral. Now with excellent marketing and promotion, “Boo” has articulated his popularity into a coffee table book, a stuffed replica of himself, appearances on morning talk shows, and endorsements, as well as lent his fame to good causes such as Operation Smile. What’s next for our four legged pal? Movie? The Presidency? Who knows? But Boo is testament to what great content can do for one’s brand. He is the Kardashian of the canine universe! Just way cuter (and less annoying).

If a dog can do it, why can’t your brand?

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Caribbean Digital Expo

My first post since I gave the blog a much needed overhaul! It's like Christmas over here!

So having just finished a year-long tour of duty as a postgrad student/expat in London, I am excited to be heading back to work soon. And I will be hitting the ground running. There are many exciting plans ahead and excited people make me excited as well. To sweeten the pot, I was silently hoping my boss and I shared the same vision and passion, and he would surprise me by signing us up for the Caribbean Digital Expo which would be on the second day of my new job. I came home and heard all the buzz around it and wondered how I would make it work.

Gold star to my boss! I will be there and I am excited that such a conference is finally taking place in Trinidad and Tobago. With speakers from amazing organisations such as Facebook and RIM/Blackberry, as well as case studies from local companies, it should be a fantastic day of networking, exchanging of ideas and experiences and brainstorming.

Here is my former boss, who will be one of the presenters, and who also was as excited about digital in our last roles, as my new boss. Like Danielle, I don't think any part of my life is un-social. Business has to not transform people, but it is clear that people and technology have also transformed the way we do business!

Thank God for progress! 

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