YouTube Music relaunches tomorrow with one of the worst brand extension names ever. YouTube was born as a video channel — a pretty amazing brand in and of itself. Over the years it has developed into a powerhouse in the mobile music and streaming realm, yet along with YouTube Red and Google Play Music has conflated a bunch of names into a “fruit cocktail effect” of product(s).
YouTube and Google should have launched a totally new brand this week — eaten some of their children and come out of the gate with a brilliant new music product (service.) I don’t see Steve Jobs skeeving up his brandscape like this? (Well maybe a little.)
First, the brand should have jettisoned the YouTube name. Spotify and Pandora are already established and have powerful brand names. Abigail Posner, Head of Creative Strategy & Head of Creative Effectiveness, at Google knows this. In my opinion, she needs to head to San Bruno today and get the YouTube people on board. It is a brilliant opportunity. A brilliant brand possibility.
Build the biggest music brand extant!
Peace.
