Audience profile
Google’s global retail and OEM partners
Context synopsis
With over 650,000 handsets being activated every day. Google needed to clarify Google Mobile’s positioning – the operating system Android, working in conjunction with Google Mobile Services – Gmail, Google Goggles, Google Chat, YouTube, Search, Google Maps etc. That can work on most other handsets from the iPhone to Blackberry.
As Android is also an open source operating system, it is easy for an OEM to use Android as its core operating system and wrap it up in their preferred customised way, this can dilute the user experience and slow down the phone in a negative way.
Google approached us to develop content and a set of rules clarifying Google Mobile as a brand and where it sits alongside its core soft and hardware product offering, it’s key messaging and how to use it. The customisation of the open source operating system needed to be communicated in a simple and effective way. Picture then designed and built the brand guidelines and transferred everything online to an internally used website.
What we did
We first of all needed to soak up as much knowledge about Google Mobile and it’s offerings, it’s various products and long-term business objectives. We held a number of workshops with key stakeholders and project owners. We then approached Google’s retail partners and OEMs with a view to seeing and understanding what they did or didn’t understand.
We collated all known sources of content and started to simplify the messaging and the tone of voice.
These guidelines were going to be accessed by various users, who would, in turn, be looking for different types of content.
The marketing manager would be looking for a brief overview of the whole package, while the designer would be looking to download assets and understand how to use the brand alongside their own brand.
We developed a web structure that would be less wordy and easier to understand. It would enable the user to drill deeply and easily for the content they needed. When the structure was signed off we then went about writing the content and producing the graphics to explain the positioning of the brand and how to use it.
