There are certain brands that fascinate me and I can never learn enough about them. Google is one of those brands. I recently finished Douglas Edwards’ book “I’m Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59” and I can’t stop talking about it. Just ask my coworkers – it’s been Google does this and Google did that for about three weeks now.

The book is an interesting look into the company as it was first starting up until it went public. I love how Edwards lets us in on key meetings that determined how the tiniest of details would be presented first through the search engine and then through AdWords, Google News, etc. As a believer that a true brand lies in the details, I could not get enough of these insights.

In addition, the book talks a lot about Google’s culture and showcases examples of how the company brought that culture to life in its TGIF meetings, office space and decision making. As with many successful brands, the strong culture is the foundation for the Google brand and its distinct voice.

As Google’s first dedicated brand marketer, Edwards helped to build and set standards for one of today’s most iconic brands. While this is only one employee’s perspective, it is definitely worth adding this book to your “To Read” list.

Have you read it yet? Let us know what you thought.

Uh oh. Looks like Google Music showed up to the party wearing the same outfit as iTunes. Unfortunately for Google, the outfit looks better on iTunes. Not to mention Google brought the less attractive date (Google+).

For anyone who isn’t aware, Google recently launched its much anticipated digital music application, Google Music (original name, I know). Finally another music marketplace to rival iTunes – sounds great. But what makes Google Music different? Well, song costs are comparable to iTunes and the layout isn’t anything new. And unfortunately Google wasn’t able to get Warner Music Group to sign on the dotted line, which leaves a huge hole in their music offering (Cher, Cee Lo, Diddy, Green Day, Van Halen, to name a few). But Google knew all of this before launch, so I was curious to see how it would position itself in order to get consumers excited.

So what does make Google Music stand out? The short answer is:  Nothing. After taking a look around the application, Google Music seems to be positioning itself as the “instant-anywhere, shareable music place.” It sounds accurate, but is it unique? Let’s take a look.

1. Instant-anywhere – This is no longer ownable. Although it’s extremely important, the ability to download songs and instantly listen on any device has become an expected feature. As a player 8 years late to the game, it’s unrealistic for Google Music to position itself around this idea.
2. Shareable – This is a more interesting approach. iTunes is not known for being a social proponent, so there is some opportunity here. Google Music does have some cool share features; however, everything links to Google+, which has been a social wasteland since its launch. It also doesn’t help that Facebook’s strong partnership with Spotify seems to be changing the way people share and discover music.

All in all, Google Music isn’t giving consumers a strong enough reason to switch to their services –  just an eerily similar alternative. They have a foundation, now they just need to find their niche and own it.

One of the keys to building a successful brand externally is to build your brand internally. Not only do your employees live and breathe the brand each day, but they are the ones communicating it to your current and future customers. So how do you develop a successful internal branding campaign? Here are a few tips. 

1. Provide easy to understand and easy to access tools. These tools could be as simple as a rack card at each employee’s desk or educational pages on your company’s intranet.
2. Engage team members from multiple departments. Ask department leaders to highlight employees who are enthusiastic and willing to carry the brand flag within the team. Then educate these brand ambassadors on the brand and how to talk to their coworkers about the value of the organization’s brand.  
3. Do it once, twice, three times and don’t stop. Internal branding is not something that can be done once and be considered successful. If it is just done once, employees may just see it as a campaign. Regularly communicating about the brand will help engrain it in your organization’s culture. Consider highlighting a different organization benefit or value each month, explaining its value and showing examples of how the brand is lived each day by employees.

When your employees believe it, your customers and future customers will notice. By tapping into your greatest brand implementation tool – your workforce – your organization will not only be singing from the same hymn book (pardon my Southern phrasing), but so will your customers.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

- Apple “Think Different” Campaign

Photo credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma