Search Me

The surprising success of Google
Neil Taylor

The engaging story of the Google brand and its role in making Google.com one of the most successful and admired businesses in modern times.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin first met in 1995, and didn’t much take to each other. When they’d stopped arguing, they set about creating what has twice been voted the world’s best-loved brand. What’s more, they did it without much help from image consultants, brand professionals, or even marketing. Google is the word-of-mouth success story of our times.

But is it a brand, or just a great product? Is it even that great a product, now the competition have raised their game? Will Microsoft’s search engine see the end of it?

Neil Taylor traces the story of Google, the brand its users don’t even pay for. It’s easy to see why we like search engines, but why do we especially like Google? How much art, and how much artlessness, is there in its innocent-looking logo; the myth of the Googleplex, its famous headquarters; that unique core principle, “don’t be evil”? Will Google’s founders be forgiven by the market for its “botched” IPO and “anarchic” corporate governance? And what, if any, lessons can be taken from its surprising success?

"A breathless, energetic, and fun look at one of the great brand (or rather, un-brand) stories of recent years."
Rita Clifton, chairman, Interbrand

"At a time when we need a refreshing way of looking at brands, Search Me delivers. It's an informative, insightful, and entertaining account of the Google brand and reminds me why I work in marketing. The industry has its high points and this is definitely one of them."
Lou Dawson, European Marketing Director, Hurley International

NEIL TAYLOR is an expert on brands, and how they use language. He is creative director of The Writer (www.thewriter.co.uk), where he advises companies on how to find the right words to express their identity. He also trains their people to become better writers at work. He works with organizations like the BBC, Merrill Lynch, BP, and Unilever.

Neil was previously a senior consultant in the London office of Interbrand. He has also been an English teacher in Quebec City, and a linguistics student at Cambridge, with a sometime sideline as a calligrapher and painter.

He is co-editor of From Here to Here, an alternative guide to London, published in 2005 by cyan Books, and was a contributor to 26 Letters: Illuminating the Alphabet, an exhibition at the British Library and a book also published by Cyan.

1-904879-16-0
£7.99 PB
Rights: All
Sales territory: World