Google Pixel 7, Engineered by Google
Google, Pixel – January 2023
Overview
In the mobile smartphone space, Google Pixel is a challenger brand. Giants like Samsung and Apple have clear staked out portions of the market, and the task of the Global Brand Marketing team for Devices and Services was to support Google’s mission to increase market share and awareness of Google Pixel’s premium smart phone device.
I owned partnership and moments guidelines to support GTM (go-to-market) execution for Google Pixel’s brand strategy, “Engineered by Google.” I collaborated with global and regional stakeholders to develop a cohesive implementation that could be felt and understood around the world.
Role
Brand Strategist
Direct Team
Mo Rafferty, Brand Strategist
Lily Hackett, Brand Strategist
Koen Malfait, Global Creative Director
Timeline
3 months, socialized January 2023
Context
Creating a comprehensive, global brand expression
Google is a global brand, and Google Pixel benefits from its parent brand’s namesake. However, when it comes to representing the brand across multiple campaigns, Pixel has shifted its brand identity with each successive new launch. There was a need to unify and simplify the executional process for GTM leads across the globe in order to represent Google Pixel successfully and increase brand attribution against Apple and Samsung.
It’s a given that campaigns are formed based on what’s timely and relevant to consumers, product needs, and brand identity. Google Pixel is no stranger to this and has shifted its brand identity as it looks to strike a balance between it’s parent brand relationship, consumer trends, and as well as product evolution cycles. We questioned how we might develop a cohesive brand that can not only flex to the needs/appetite of consumers but also define the relationship between Google’s legacy brand and create a new space for Pixel to be a challenger brand in the smartphone category.
Balancing relevancy, challenger ideology and Google’s legacy brand
Challenges to address
Final Deliverables
A brand that provides helpful, simple, personal experiences
A large part of the work to be done was in balancing the brand identity elements of the Pixel hardware portfolio and reconciling that with the relationship between the Google parent brand’s visual identity.
For Pixel that looks like:
Color – Drawing on more muted tones and colors to fit in with natural environments. the naming conventions for the device colors fit this strategy as well
Photography – Relying on more realistic scenes with appropriate lighting and post editing to represent a more life-like consumer and world
Tone – Maintaining that Google’s quirk and lightness to carry our messaging strategies
Etc.
