Now I have truly seen it all. Last week Google announced that they would be renaming the Google Ad Planner (their tool for making media buys on targeted sites) the DoubleClick Ad Planner. So why am I making a big deal about what seems to be a very trivial name change?
Google Dropped Its Own Brand Name
Google loves to hear it’s own name. Froogle sounded funny, so they renamed it Google Product Search (despite the longer name.) Gmail in the UK? Nope, it’s Google Mail (partially because they lost a lawsuit too.) They even have their own cell phone now, the Google Nexus One. They love putting their name on everything, so when they take their name off of something, it makes me wonder.
Possible Explanations
- The tool isn’t doing well and they don’t want a failure to tarnish the Google name.
- DoubleClick raised a stink and wanted some love. Maybe the purchase isn’t going as smoothly as we thought?
- Google’s brand doesn’t carry much weight in the display industry (and DoubleClick does). Hard to believe, but entirely possible.
All of these are a little out there, so what do you think? Why did Google drop their branding from Ad Planner?
