Comms 235 Colin Holmes

Prof. Ogden
Case Analysis: Google Fiber Launch
Overview
In 2010, Google announced that it would be developing an ultra-high speed internet
service and launching that service in a selected community in the United States. The service
would be called Google Fiber and was reported to be 100 times faster than most users
broadband-internet connections. After beta-tests at Stanford University, Google announced that it
had finally selected a community in which to launch their new internet service. On, March 30,
2011, Google posted their final selection of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City Missouri to
their blog. Weve signed a development agreement with the city, and well be working closely
with local organizations, businesses and universities to bring a next-generation web experience
to the community (Google Fiber Blog, 2011). There are several interesting and noteworthy
aspects to this case, but for this analysis I would like to focus on Googles highly successful
communications efforts motivating citizens to pre-register for Google Fiber.
Situation Analysis
The new service would produce internet speeds of up to 100 times faster than other
broadband providers. This not only speeds up web surfing, but would provide many new
opportunities for local schools, hospitals, entrepreneurs and local residents. Having announced
that Google Fiber was coming to Kansas City, Google wanted to be able to provide the service in
as many areas as possible. During a conference held on July 26, 2012, Google described their
launch plans. In order to provide the service to all those who wanted it, Google divided the city
into geographical areas called fiberhoods. Each fiberhood was given a goal for the number of
homes that needed to pre-register for Google fiber in order to make the service available in that
area. If a certain fiberhood met the goal, then they qualified to have Google lay the fiberoptic
cable necessary for them to access the service. Google also promised that all schools and other
chosen organizations within each fiberhood would receive free internet service. If a fiberhood
did not meet their goal, then Google would not provide the service during the initial launch
(Pichette, 2012).
Although many residents were more than willing to pay the $10 fee to pre-register, there
were many others in inner-city areas with very low income and without internet access. Others
did not see the benefits of having such an increase in internet speed. If these residents were not
convinced of the benefits of Google Fiber and did not pre-register, their fiberhood would not be
selected for installation of the service. This means that any schools or hospitals within the
fiberhood would also lose access to the service (Rice & Eveld, 2012).
Problem/Opportunity
The core problem for Google was convincing home-owners in Kansas City to pre-register for
Google Fiber because it is, by far, the fastest service provider and many opportunities will be
available to their communities; but if they do not pre-register Google fiber will not be installed in
their neighborhood and they will miss out on all the associated benefits.
Publics
Homeowners with Internet Access
This was the first and most important public targeted by Google. They would need to provide
informational messages to these individuals to explain why Google Fiber is better than the
service they are already using. They would then need to provide a reason for them to pre-register
for Google Fiber. Seeing as many different demographic groups exist among internet users,
Google used many different messaging strategies in order to target these individuals. I believe
that the strategies used were highly successful and will discuss what messages were used later in
this analysis.
Inner-city and low-income citizens without internet access
In the Kansas City area there are many low income neighborhoods. It is reported that almost
25% of citizens either have no internet access or are using only dial-up services. Individuals with
these situations would be the most difficult to reach by Google (Reardon, 2012). Without internet
access, these individuals would not be able to receive all of the information provided about
Google Fiber, and if these individuals did not pre-register many of their fiberhoods would not be
able to meet their registration goal and Google Fiber would not be provided to their area.
Googles main goal with this public was to convince them that Google Fiber would be worth the
$10 expense both for the subscriber and the greater community. Google was able to successfully
reach these individuals through word-of-mouth campaigns and other messages that will be
discussed later in this analysis.
Community leaders
In order to reach their other targeted publics, Google also chose to target local community
leaders that they felt would be influential in motivating Kansas City citizens to pre-register. This
group consisted of local members of government, and neighborhood associations.
Messages
The messages used by Google were targeted directly to the citizens of Kansas City. They
knew that the residents are proud of their community and they would love to see it grow and
progress. For these reasons they chose to base their messages on the ideas of innovation and
community pride.
Innovation
Googles first primary message was that they wanted to provide a community with
Internet access more than 100 times faster than what most Americans enjoy today (Google
Fiber Blog, 2012). Google considered this to be a significant innovation and chose to include this
message in almost every video and advertisement that I could find during the course of my
research.
The speed of Google Fiber is the basis of all other messages which Google used in
regards to its innovation. They related that the increased speed would create an environment for a
whole new generation of apps and other services which they cant yet imagine (Google Fiber
Blog, 2012).
They also stated in a conference that the increased speed would create more time for
users to create experiences with their families and loved ones. Since people would have to wait a
significantly less amount of time to access and download content on the internet, this would
allow time for other activities as well.
Community Pride
The messages geared towards product innovation worked very well for a considerable
amount of Googles targeted publics, but I feel the strongest messages that Google produced
focused on the local communities of Kansas City. These messages provided the information and
motivation needed for many citizens to commit to pre-register for the service. Google posted
many videos on Youtube that focused on the communities of Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas
City, Missouri that highlighted the love the citizens had for their communities. Many videos
were produced, but the one which I found to be the most impactful was titled Lets Do This For
Kansas City. The video starts by showing significant landmarks in the Kansas City metro area
and opens with the line Lets do this for everyone who calls Kansas City home. It then
continues on to highlight specific communities and organizations in the Kansas City area, each
of these being introduced by the phase Lets do this for They used local citizens in the video
and I found this to be an excellent means to convey the message that this was a community effort
and that everyone needed to be involved to bring forth these great opportunities and innovations
to the city (YouTube).
Effectiveness
Channels
The channels which Google used to communicate their messages to their key publics
were highly successful. Since Google owns YouTube, it was able to post several informational
videos on the site that described Google Fiber and all of the benefits that it would provide. It also
used YouTube as the main channel for the live Google Fiber launch announcement which
occurred on July 26
th
of this year. Each video posted received many comments from users who
wished that their community had been selected as the first for the Google Fiber launch.
Google also created a blog, googlefiberblog.blogspot.com, to inform its publics of
updates for the product launch, pre-registration goals that were being met, service plans that
would be made available, and information they thought would be useful to those considering pre-
registering. I found this website to be extremely helpful when researching Googles efforts in
their pre-registration campaign and many of the other websites and journals I visited also used
information that Google published on this blog.
The channel which impressed me the most was the word of mouth campaign initiated by
Google. They encouraged those who had already pre-registered to tell their neighbors to ensure
that their fiberhood would qualify to have the service installed in their area. Signs were posted in
neighborhoods with handwritten numbers representing how many homes left were needed for
Google Fiber to come to their fiberhood. Leaders of neighborhood associations often made
special efforts to go door to door and send our mass emails to their neighbors to help ensure that
their neighborhood would not be left behind. Google made a special effort in the low-income and
inner city areas of Kansas City by sending out teams of recruiters to various neighborhoods in
order to help them pre-register and qualify for the service as well. An article was published in the
Kansas City Star that highlighted the recruiting efforts of the head of a neighborhood associate
who helped her fiberhood meet their goal through word of mouth campaign (Rice & Eveld,
2012).
Perceptions
Overall, perceptions for Google Fiber and the communications strategies used to promote
it were highly favorable. An article was published by EWeek that discussed whether or not
people in Kansas City even cared that Google Fiber was coming to their city. An overwhelming
majority answered that they did indeed care. Shaw-Voeks, a private running coach, said she
registered for the new service right away. "I didnt have to think twice about it." Jase Wilson,
who was also interviewed for the article, said that he believed that Google Fiber was going to
bring a lot more to the community than just speed. Only one individual interviewed for the
article did not have a favorable perception. Beck Ireland said that she didnt see the need for the
service because she felt her existing internet was just fine. Otherwise, a vast majority of the
targeted publics had favorable reactions to the messages communicated.
Actions
The actions taken by the targeted publics are evidenced both in the channels of
communication and the end result of the pre-registration campaign. Many publics took action
themselves in order to assure that their fiberhood would meet its registration goal. They used
word of mouth to communicate the importance of the product to their friends, acquaintances, and
neighbors. I believe this to be a huge success for Google because after the announced the product
and released their messages, their publics took over and did most of the work.
The overall success of the campaign can be found in the final numbers of the
preregistration. After the preregistration deadline, a total of 180 fiberhoods out of the total of 202
qualified for installation of Google Fiber. This means that residents in 89% of Kansas City,
Kansas and central Kansas City, Missouri fiberhoods will receive Google Fiber (Google Fiber
Blog). I find this to be an amazing success and strong evidence that both the product and
communications strategies used to promote pre-registration were extremely well received.
Summary
I believe that the public relations and promotion of Google Fiber were highly successful. Google
was able to create a great plan to encourage the citizens of Kansas City to commit and pre-
register for this new service. They split the city into fiberhoods and made each one accountable
for reaching their registration goal in order to qualify for the service. They also produced
messages that promoted the innovation of the product and how it would benefit the community
for its citizens. Many successful channels were used and even harder to reach publics were able
to get information through word of mouth. The success of this campaign can be measured by the
180 fiberhoods that qualified for Google Fiber, and by the enthusiasm in which the community
embraced this new opportunity.
Bibliography
1. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Networking/Google-Fiber-Arrives-in-Kansas-City-Do-Users-Care-215521/
2. http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-08-08T16:08:00-07:00&max-results=10&reverse-paginate=true
3. http://googlefiberblog.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-05-16T09:30:00-07:00&max-results=10&start=30&by-date=false
4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=6uZVqPuq81c&NR=1
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMM-qOU_1-I&feature=context-cha
6. Kansas City Communities Jump on Google Fiber Bandwagon. (2012). PC Magazine, 1.
7. Google brings google fiber to kansas city. (2012). Global Telecoms Business, Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1030153502?accountid=4488
8. http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/08/3804473/sign-up-effort-for-google-fiber.html#storylink=misearch
9. http://www.kansascity.com/2011/05/17/2881707/mayor-james-kansas-city-partnership.html#storylink=misearch
10. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57475032-93/google-preps-launch-of-1gbps-broadband-network/