There are many blog posts and tweets complaining about the new Google + name.

I think it is very smart. No one can refer to it by name. It isn’t a specific entity – just that Google social thing. That means they can be very aggressive at marketing it and it just looks like part of GOOGLE.  They can get away with rolling this puppy right into Gmail, merge in your contacts and PRESTO instant social network without anyone being able to point a direct finger at a product. It isn’t a question of getting you to switch to a new Google product. If you have a Gmail account, then you really already are a + user. You don’t have the choice.

The same thing happens in the car industry. You don’t tell your frinds you bought a 328i, you tell them you bought a BMW. Mercedes and others also do it with the numbers. Lincoln is also trying to do it with letters in the MKZ, MKS,  and MKX naming schema.

You don’t tell your friends you are on Google +, you tell them you are on that new Google social network. Google leaves it to you to do the heavy lifting for them. Google reaps all the rewards. They get the freedom of being able to roll the product parts out of, and into a myriad of existing Google services.

Remember the lesson of Mad Mens Don Draper and Lucky Strike cigarettes:

“We have six identical companies making six identical products, we can say anything we want.”

“Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It’s freedom from fear. It’s a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you’re doing is OK. You are OK”.

Google + is NOT Facebook, Twitter, or any other ‘social network’. Google +, well, umm, it’s toasted!