Price of a Google share on the first day of trading: over $100. Cost of a splashy, but ill- timed Playboy interview: hot glares from regulators.
Worth of the Google name: still priceless.
Despite wobbling towards its initial public public offering Thursday, Google Inc.'s top-ranked brand will retain its luster, brand experts said Thursday.
"What's going to happen is that the stock will do well. And that will be good news," said Steve Yastrow, a branding expert. "The rest of these issues will be lost in the ether and not distort the brand harmony."
Google shares, which opened the first trading day at a 15 percent premium, closed up 18 percent at $100.34 on the Nasdaq.
The IPO's progress, however, was partially blocked by an overly optimistic initial price range and a fine-print disclosure that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to recommend pursuit of civil penalties against its general counsel over events at a previous employer.
But with a name that has evolved into a verb synonymous with Web searching, brand experts said few obstacles could dent its reputation as the favorite destination among consumers.
"You're looking at a very strong brand that's been able to generally meet and exceed the expectations of the user base," said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.
Passikoff said Google has topped the list of Internet brands on its customer loyalty index for the past five years, ahead of Yahoo Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. That is no small feat for a company founded just six-years ago and which has virtually no physical, real-world presence — no marketing, no billboards, no TV ads. It has done little to tout its service other than improve its functions and thrive on word-of-mouth buzz.
Pleasing the street
Google's minimalist marketing may have worked when it was a hot young upstart with a cool new product. But its official debut as a public company now gives it a feisty community of shareholders less likely to forgive its quirky ways.
"The investment community is a critical target audience for most brands," said Deborah Crudo, executive director of Landor Associates. "I think some of the issues that stem from their filing and how they conducted themselves could garner more attention ... It could affect the brand."
Experts are closely watching the developments at the SEC, which is investigating comments made in a Playboy interview during the mandatory quiet period leading up to an IPO and its general counsel's alleged past indiscretions.
Moreover, with ambitions to expand beyond its core search features into media and services, Google will soon be facing powerful rivals.
"I think that their key challenge is that they're going to be going up against the big media companies," Chris Sharon, research director at Forrester Research said.