I don't know what the $*%& this means, but GOOGLE me!

It’s even reached an 88 year old who lives in a town with only one stop sign, a post office and a railroad track. Google reached my Grandfather. We all got a good chuckle, when, after a couple Manhattans, my grandfather said, “I have no idea what the hell this means, but – Google me!” He laughed immediately as if he knew that what he had just said would get everyone else going. And it sure did. You can actually find out a lot about Robert Redett. Having served as the Chief of Forestry for the State of Ohio, there’s quite a bit that’s been published using his name. And he’s lucky because he has a name that isn’t shared with people in 300 pages of the phone book, like Thompson. I’ve found that Googling myself proves futile, unless I’m curious about what the other 500 million Rebecca K Thompson’s of the world are up to.

This little scenario got me thinking about how prevalent Google has become. It reminded me of a time when my favorite professor, Dr. Slater had us go around the room senior year and talk about what our favorite part of advertising was. I said something related to the fact that, if a brand is positioned correctly, it can take over and a very powerful influence on society – it could become pervasive to the point of becoming a household name. That was what fascinated me about advertising – the power it has. When a brand becomes such a part of society that we start using its name as a verb - How wonderful is that?

I’d say Google has really done it, considering my 88 year old Grandfather and his three-too-many Manhattans and his request to be “Googled,” even though he has never used a computer and didn’t fully understand what he was requesting.

If you’re curious, here’s a link to his search results: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=Robert+Redett