An interesting thing in all of this to me is that it seems that Yahoo (YHOO), among others in the branding area, have come up with an answer. Google has been smart in keeping the focus of advertising on search while they come up with ways to do what some have already been doing for a while. In other words, they're controlling the parameters of the discussion; a powerful position to be in.
Everyone is focusing on the lack of search share as it connects to Yahoo, while they've already created a powerful branding platform that is functioning and working for marketers, while providing huge traffic. So why is search the overwhelming conversation when branding is the online growth area of the future? Google has smartly made it the topic of importance and the criteria that online success is measured against.
They've made their strength be what is valuable in the minds of marketers, even when the search area is coming to an end to its long-term growth surge. They are defining the terms of the battle while their competitors are actually far ahead of them in the next marketing push. When you look at it from that view, it's really brilliant. They're acting like they're the leaders in online branding when in reality they're not even really in the game yet.
Unfortunately for their competitors, they've let them get away with it. Using Yahoo as an example again, they're made to look like kids not knowing what they're doing while being put on the defensive over and over. This is with being one of the top two visited sites in the Internet world and people hanging around the site for a long time. These are the types of things that companies want for their branding efforts.
In the branding area and creating destinations for people to visit, they've done a lot right, yet they're still considered overall failures, as they're compared to Google. Why? Again, the criteria being used is search and not branding. It's making Yahoo and others look like they're far behind in branding when in reality they're way ahead of the game.
People are viewing search as the overall umbrella for online marketing and have put put all other advertising underneath it. If you lead in search, you're leading in online marketing, even if it's not true. That's what is inside the heads of the people that are looking at these things.
The result is many are looking to Google as a leader in all of online advertising, when in fact they're fighting with the reality that growth in search will slow down soon. With that being their whole business, they must create other revenue streams to grow into the future.
Instead of sitting back, they've aggressively went on the offensive and have the real online branding leaders looking like they're in disarray and unsure of themselves. They may even have the companies themselves believing that as well, from the comments I've read.
If Google pulls this off, it will be an amazing execution and brilliant strategy, to come out of nowhere and take the lead in online branding when others have been so far ahead of them and already providing huge platforms for that very purpose.
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