Google Doodles Give Lessons In Content Marketing

For an idea of how simple design ideas can generate organic brand awareness, look no further than Google, whose Doodles have become a bit of a phenomenon.

The idea for the Google Doodle logo is as old as the company itself – the first Doodle was created by founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 when they drew a stick man behind the original Google logo to show that they were out of the office.

In 2000, the Doodles started to take off when Dennis Hwang, an intern at the time, was asked to provide a Doodle to celebrate Bastille Day. Dennis was then appointed Chief Doodler and the company has created ever more creative Doodles ever since.

Gaming Doodles

The Doodle logos are their own form of content marketing – generating PR exposure for Google as people promote the various Doodles.

Some of the more creative ones allow users to play games, such as the Dr Who 50th Anniversary Doodle, which contains a multi-level game, featuring all the past timelords.

You can play the Dr Who game here.

On 21st May 2010, Google celebrated the 30th anniversary of Pacman with an interactive Doodle, which you can see here.

Some other great interactive Doodles

• 96th anniversary of Les Paul’s birthday


• 216th anniversary of the first parachute jump


• 66th anniversary of the Roswell incident


• London 2012 games, including Hurdles, Basketball and Football


• 100th anniversary of the crossword puzzle

If you want to find Doodles, you can search here. However, so popular are they that a number of top publications have put together their own lists of favourites.

• Radio Times: 15 of the best Doodles for 15 years of Google


• T3 Magazine: Best Google Doodles ever


• Washington Post: Best Google Doodles of all time

Google has a team of Doodlers who produce the logos, but the company is open to suggestions from members of the public. All you have to do is email proposals@google.com.

How to take inspiration for your own company

There are several ways you can apply the same thinking to your company website – whether it’s changing the company logo to suit an occasion, or adding a piece of seasonal content to the site.

The search giant is lucky because it has millions of people looking at the site each day, so it’s worth putting time into creating content just for the one day. Normal companies, with less visitors, could use longer-lasting ideas.

The festive season invites ideas related to the whole month of December as well as the New Year period – advent calendars, 12 days of Christmas, gift guides, Santa tracking etc.

You could also adapt your whole website to the seasons of the year, perhaps changing the colour scheme occasionally. Perhaps a new piece of content on the home page each month, such as a welcome video, animation or other design feature could create a reputation for your brand – where people talk about what you do and link to you.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/google-doodles-give-lessons-content-marketing-0726375?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=google-doodles-give-lessons-content-marketing