June 11, 2008

Pick the Right Tool for Promotion

Here's a great example of a company picking just the right promotional tool: a leatherman tool for Google hardware operations. Now, for all I know, Google has robots in their data centers managing all their hardware and their hardware operations group never touches a wire or a screwdriver. Still, in a company renowned for tinkering and building software tools, and less renowned for their equally important - and absolutely massive - hardware infrastructure, this promotional multi-tool evokes the spirit of hardware operations beautifully. Also, while there are some high-quality tools from non-name brands, using a genuine Leatherman tool sends an important message about the importance of the hardware operations team to Google, as well as Google's commitment to quality in general. (via Search Engine Land)

Posted by mark at 7:25 AM. Permalink: Pick the Right Tool for Promotion | Comments (0)

June 9, 2008

Another Google Logo Lego Project

Here's a great version of the Google logo done in Legos, including a step-by-step account of the process. One thing is for sure, this guy really likes Legos. Check out the wall of Lego bins behind the logo. And if you can't get enough Lego, check out the Lego Indiana Jones website.

Posted by mark at 10:37 AM. Permalink: Another Google Logo Lego Project | Comments (0)

June 8, 2008

Lego My Town, Lego My Google

Here's an interesting Lego twofer. First, Jan Voorman fills all the cracks in the walls in Bocchignano, Italy with Lego pieces. Next, someone re-creates the Google logo in Legos. Previously we've seen Legos promote architects and giant Lego man on the beach. (Jan Voorman's art via Designverb, who also have a recent post full of famous photos re-created in Lego form.) Update: One thing I just noticed about this photo is that it is a real-life Lego version of a Lego-ized Google logo that Google had used on it's home page in honor of Lego's 50th anniversary. It makes the head spin, don't it?

Posted by mark at 9:26 AM. Permalink: Lego My Town, Lego My Google | Comments (0)

May 24, 2008

Google Campfire Chair

So, Google does a thing called Campfire One where they invite developers over to Google, share ideas and make s'mores. The perfect promo for such an event? Probably the custom imprinted folding chair, which is exactly what they did.

Posted by mark at 8:21 PM. Permalink: Google Campfire Chair | Comments (0)

May 11, 2008

Making Promos that Match

I just wanted to highlight this photo of a promotional notebook and promotional paper clips done for Google, because they looks go great together. Google has a somewhat challenging logo to begin with. Although it's simple, it has five colors, which means to match items you need to find ones that can be printed in five colors (or full-color). Beyond that, it's important to find items that look good together and make sure and make sure your logo size is proportionate both to the items and to the other items. One hint: if you're doing multiple items of similar size, make all the logos the same size, even if it could be a little bigger on one of the items.

Posted by mark at 10:09 AM. Permalink: Making Promos that Match | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

Soapvertising

Google has done tons of cool promos in the past, but this one is pretty unique. Soapvertising comes in many forms, such as putting lots and lots of stuff on your soap label, but this Russian promotion for Gmail was targeted at students and used actual soap to promote their advanced spam protection. Part of the concept was that the spam filtering "cleans" the email, but also, the Russian words for soap and email also sound the same.

Posted by mark at 12:22 PM. Permalink: Soapvertising | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

Google Temorary Tattoos

Update: I mean decals. Tamar Weinberg was kind enough to point this out to me, and a quick inspection of the one I have sitting on my desk confirms it. They're the non-sticky kind that affixes to glass surfaces purely through magic.

Here's a shot of the Google booth at the search marketing conference SES in New York. Stacked around the booth are stacks of gigantic Google temporary tatoos. While plenty of people are somewhat afraid of Google's huge and growing power on the Internet, I guess it'll be at least a few years before we're lining up at the Google booth to get permanent tattoos.

Posted by mark at 9:17 AM. Permalink: Google Temorary Tattoos | Comments (0)

December 29, 2007

Best of 2007: Best Space Logo

2007 was the year of space logos. In Dubai, they created a giant poster so big you could see it from space. JP Aerospace would send your logo up into space and take photos of it there. Giant Homer was probably visible from space. And, to round out the year, the original KFC logo visible from space has finally made its way to Google Maps.

Posted by mark at 11:48 AM. Permalink: Best of 2007: Best Space Logo | Comments (0)

December 21, 2007

Google Gift 2007: A Little Video (Camera) for Everyone

We've featured previous Google Christmas gifts on the blog and now, thanks to Shimon Sandler, we've got some footage of this year's gift, a Flip Video Camera featuring the Google logo. For one thing, it's a great way to get more content on YouTube. After all, they did spend $1.65 Billion to acquire it. For your reference, previous gifts included: a digital photo frame, a USB travel kit and a color-changing mood radio.

Posted by mark at 3:56 PM. Permalink: Google Gift 2007: A Little Video (Camera) for Everyone | Comments (0)

December 19, 2007

Choco Promos: Google Fountain

You know what? Chocolate Google fountain is also pretty awesome in my book.

Posted by mark at 12:06 PM. Permalink: Choco Promos: Google Fountain | Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

Choco Promos: Chocolate Google

Nothing says class like fine custom chocolates in an imprinted box made out of delicious chocolate. Google, you've really outdone yourself this time. (via Search Engine Land)

Posted by mark at 6:56 AM. Permalink: Choco Promos: Chocolate Google | Comments (0)

November 23, 2007

New Google Promo Lip Balm

google wants to make all the world's information searchable, while not being evil. They also seem to care deeply about making sure we are well hydrated, our lips remain unchapped, and keeping key communities happy. They also don't mind having a little fun. (via Search Engine Land)

Posted by mark at 10:53 AM. Permalink: New Google Promo Lip Balm | Comments (0)

November 22, 2007

Google Promotional Outreach

Below are some promos that were sent to Barry Schwartz, a search engine marketer/search marketing expert. I think the tagline on the shirt, "I help make Google products even better" says a lot about the attitude Google is taking towards the search community, at least when it comes to promos. Even though the goal of search marketing is to benefit from (and some would say manipulate) search engine rankings, there is definitely also a partnership in which web developers, webmasters and search marketers are a key community that does provide valuable feedback to the search engines. (via Cartoon Barry Blog)

Posted by mark at 10:46 AM. Permalink: Google Promotional Outreach | Comments (0)

January 3, 2007

Google Shuffle: How to Mess with Your Brand

Google sent out another interesting client gift to advertisers this year, a laser engraved iPod shuffle. It was a noticeable break from their tendency to give colorful promotional gifts, and it also featured what seemed like a typo: "ooGleg thanks you!" In fact, as one astute commenter posted on SimpleSEM where the photo was posted, it's not a typo, but Google with the letters shuffled. A clever way of using the imprint to make the gift more memorable - even though it goes against the conventional wisdom of never messing with your logo or branding - it fits Google's personality (and for that matter, Apple's). On the other hand, there are lots of companies for whom a marketing trick like this wouldn't be appropriate, but they may not think of it, or go through with it. The bottom line is that you can have some fun with your branding, but only if a) it's appropriate for your brand image and b) it makes your promotion more effective than it would be otherwise. (via search engine land)

Posted by mark at 11:22 AM. Permalink: Google Shuffle: How to Mess with Your Brand | Comments (0)

December 18, 2006

Promotional Merchandise: Google Goodies

After featuring the great Yahoo Answers promo gifts, I figured it's only fair to point out that Google has some great merchandise in their company store, too. Does your brand have the power to sell promotional merchandise with your logo? Even if you aren't as big as Google or Yahoo, it might. If it does, you get to kill two birds with one stone, promoting your brand and brining in some extra revenue.

Posted by mark at 8:06 AM. Permalink: Promotional Merchandise: Google Goodies | Comments (0)

December 6, 2006

Google Gifts 2007: Imprinted Digital Photo Frame

Google always seems to do a good job rewarding their top advertisers with holiday gifts and this year is no exception. in fact, it may be the best ever. Google doesn't mess around when it comes to colorful promos, or enticing giveaways, and they also do nice holiday gifts for their advertisers. In 2004, they gave away color-changing mood radios and in 2005 it was a nice usb travel kit. Common themes for Google goodies include use of their trademark multi-color palette and products that lean towards being techie, while still also fun.

For their gifts in particular, some additional touches typically include: nice packaging and multilingual messaging. If you want to be like Google, you can send out your very own digital photo frame gifts but you'd better hurry up if you want to do it for this holiday season!

Posted by mark at 7:11 AM. Permalink: Google Gifts 2007: Imprinted Digital Photo Frame | Comments (0)

August 8, 2006

Schwag Trends

Google Trends allows users to view relative trends in search popularity for different terms. I was trying it out on the term "schwag" and it generated this graph:

My guess would be that the increase in searches for the term schwag coincided with the launch of Valley Schwag.

Posted by mark at 11:43 AM. Permalink: Schwag Trends | Comments (0)

May 23, 2006

Another Shot of the Da Vinci Code Cryptex

Here's another photo of the Cryptex that was sent out to the first 10,000 winners of the Google/Da Vinci Code game promoting the movie (previous cryptiness). This picture shows the custom packaging.

Posted by mark at 12:18 PM. Permalink: Another Shot of the Da Vinci Code Cryptex | Comments (0)

May 16, 2006

Cryptex Is Crypty Times Two

I don't know how I totally missed this entire promotion, but Google sponsored a tie-in with the release of the movie "The Da Vinci Code" involving "a set of cryptic puzzles, hidden searches, and mind boggling mini games that ran for the past 3 1/2 weeks." Jason Murphy was one of 10,000 finalists and recieved this rather wicked cool looking cryptex. By dialing in the right word on the cryptex, you can open it and get a secret message that tells you where to go for the next step of the game. This is probably one of the most creative (and most crypty!) custom promos of all time.

Posted by mark at 3:04 PM. Permalink: Cryptex Is Crypty Times Two | Comments (1)

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