Google: Chromebooks & Product Marketing

Contributors: Chenlei Zhang, Elena Pantazopoulos, Andersen Liu

THE PROJECT

As a cohort member of the Marketing Accelerator Program (MAP), I had the opportunity to present a product marketing strategy to Google's Head of Product Marketing with my team members Andersen and Elena.

We were presented with the challenge of coming up with a high-level marketing strategy targeting Gen Z consumers for Google’s Chromebooks. All of this was to be condensed and fitted into 3 slides.

The objectives given by our client were to:

Leverage high familiarity among Gen Z to drive up consideration for Chromebooks among this segment.
Highlight Chromebook's creative work and entertainment capabilities: run third-party applications, cloud gaming, Google Workspace offline.
Showcase Chromebook’s premium devices: high performance, upgraded display, and sleek design with an aluminum finish.

CASE BACKGROUND

“Gen Z's first experience with Chromebooks typically starts in school, with frustrating restrictions on cheaper devices. School districts tend to restrict certain functions, especially access to websites and apps. As a result, despite having high familiarity and awareness for Chromebooks, consideration among Gen Z is significantly lower. This means that once Gen Z leaves high school, they’re ready to leave the Chromebooks behind too, and don’t consider more premium (i.e. $400+) Chromebooks. For some students, the Chromebook is ideal for “light use” and if “you’re not tech savvy,” while another student notes that the “main benefit” of Chromebook is its integration with Google services and devices. Google would like to generate brand love and drive consideration for Chromebooks among the Gen Z population in Canada. They strongly believe that capturing a greater share of the Next Gen laptop users starts with Gen Z. (Google, 2022)”

PROCESS

Through a case analysis process, we identified three marketing issues pertaining to the Chromebooks line:

Ineffective Positioning and Marketing Strategy
Undereducated Consumer Market for Chrome OS Against Competitors
Brand Dilution from Cheaper Models Dispatched for Schools

And came up with the following recommendations:

The "Connect with Chrome" Campaign

1. Focus with promoting Chrome OS integrations through three tangible steps
Re-positioning Chromebooks out of the competition from Windows and Mac’s heavy utility laptops and market Chromebooks authentically as what it really is by highlighting its unique product propositions. A positioning statement we created that summarizes our vision for the strategic change catered towards the younger consumers is "Chrome OS is the fun, modern, and integrated operating system that connects you with the ultimate Chrome experience."

2. Expanding and utilizing social networks
(a) Produce traditional ads that are short, engaging, and focused on product enjoyment and entertainment. Ads should be fun and trendy (Gen Z value), and demonstrate the "one-click" connect capabilities of Chrome OS.
(b) Partner with lifestyle influencers on TikTok for them to demonstrate credible user experience with Chromebooks > drive engaged consumers to the in-person pop-up stores.

> Discontinue the Economical Line

1. Discontinue Chromebooks models under the price point of $700
This will help to reduce and prevent the perceptions Gen Z’s have of Chromebooks as “discount” laptops due to poorer previous experiences with cheaper models.

2. Offer high-end laptops to schools at discounted bulk B2B prices
Promote high quality, premium experiences to students (soon-to-be young consumers) with the Chromebook

MY ROLE & SKILLS USED

I took the lead in issue identification pertaining to this case presented by Google. As this was a marketing and not a technical product case, my issue identification focused on the branding and positioning of the Chromebooks.
I also supported my team with practical research and insights to help us in formulating a strong recommendation; these insights presented were well received by the Head of Product Marketing as it showcased the pathway and logic behind our solutions.
With adequate experiences in designing graphics and working with slides in past projects, I took the lead in designing the slide deck this time. It was required for us to keep the slide deck to only three slides, so I tried my best to summarize our ideas and with the help of visual elements.

REFLECTIONS & LEARNINGS

This was my first time working on a case for such a large and well-known company, and for the product category. I was super thrilled as product marketing is a field I want to branch into, and I definitely gained a lot more exposure to it being given a real-life case to work with. Improvements could have been made. As it was only a three-slider submission without a verbal presentation, we could have shortened our focus down for the recommendation to fully flesh out our vision and descriptions for it by text.

As my members wanted to use Canva for the slide design, I tried to adapt and create visually appealing slides catered to Google’s branding. The case sponsor complimented our slides, especially the Analysis section that he himself would use something like this in future case studies. He said it was well put-together in a very logical sense visually, as he could see a moving process behind our work from left to right. This gave me more confidence in my slide deck building abilities and design sense not just aesthetically, but the ability to condense and present high-context information clearly.