According to the book “The only book you will ever need on branding” a brand is a name that, in the mind of a consumer, is attached to a product category. For example, ‘Search’ is a category and Google is a brand which is now successfully attached to it. And, this is the reason why we often say “Google it” which means to search.
Like all others, I too use Google products like Gmail, Google drive, Google maps, etc. And, I often wonder why there is a G or Google in front of most of the Google products. The word Google now is very attached to the search category. And, whenever I see any other Google/Alphabet Inc products with Google or G as a prefix then what comes to my mind is Search.
For example, I subconsciously presume the following:
Google mail – search mail
Google drive – search drive
Google pay – search pay
Google earth – search earth
There are many examples where most of the Google products starts with Google. Here is the link of the products Google current listing here
If you observe in the above product lines, most of the names except YouTube and few others like Waze. Google uses descriptive branding. For example, Earth, Pay, Voice, Translate, Trips, Etc. Which in fact makes a consumer understand the product quite quickly. But, also, it leaves the consumer no option to associate with. For example, a consumer associates Search to Google, Photocopy to Xerox, Band-Aid to Plaster, Thermos to Vacuum Flask, Realtor to Real Estate Agent, and many more
Also, I checked, Google uses ‘Google.com’ as the main domain and integrates most of its products under it as a subdomain. For example:
Gmail – mail.google.com
Chrome – Chrome.Google.com
Drive – Drive.Google.com
Duo – Duo.Google.com
And so on. If you go GoogleDrive.com – you will get an error. Instead of taking you to Drive.Google.com. But, Goolemaps.com will take you to the desired location. I don’t think people are that familiar with second level domains. Which Google practicing with its many products. And, at the end may cause confusion. Is Google listening?