[real-eyes] Re: Google Topeka
- From: "Kimberly A. Morrow" <morrowka@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 5 Apr 2010 07:29:09 -0500
I think everyone interpreted this as a big April Fool's joke. Maybe it
was.
Kimberly A. Morrow
Outreach Specialist - Unity.fm
Unity
1901 NW Blue Parkway
Unity Village, MO 64065
816-251-3588
visit www.unity.org
visit www.dailyword.com
visit www.unity.fm
-----Original Message-----
From: real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:real-eyes-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Reginald George
Sent: Thursday, April 01, 2010 6:33 PM
To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [real-eyes] Google Topeka
The official Google blog entry for the day. I would think Kansans would
be loving it.
A different kind of company name
4/01/2010 12:01:00 AM
Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by
announcing
that his city was changing its name to Google. We've been wondering ever
since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to
announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has
officially changed our name to Topeka.
We didn't reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount
of
brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the
former) Topeka's municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this
fine
city at the edge of the Great Plains.
In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: "Don't be
fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just
yellow brick ones."
For 150 years, its fortuitous location at the confluence of the Kansas
River
and the Oregon Trail has made the city formerly known as Topeka a key
jumping-off point to the new world of the West, just as for 150 months
the
company formerly known as Google has been a key jumping-off point to the
new
world of the web. When in 1858 a crucial bridge built across the Kansas
River was destroyed by flooding mere months later, it was promptly
rebuilt -
and we too are accustomed to releasing 2.0 versions of software after
stormy
feedback on our 'beta' releases. And just as the town's nickname is "Top
City," and the word "topeka" itself derives from a term used by the
Kansa
and Ioway tribes to refer to "a good place to dig for potatoes," we'd
like
to think that our website is one of the web's top places to dig for
information.
In the early 20th century, the former Topeka enjoyed a remarkable run of
political prominence, gracing the nation with Margaret Hill McCarter,
the
first woman to address a national political convention (1920,
Republican);
Charles Curtis, the only Native American ever to serve as vice president
('29
to '33, under Herbert Hoover); Carrie Nation, leader of the old
temperance
movement (and wielder of American history's most famous hatchet); and,
most
important, Alfred E. Neuman, arguably the most influential figure to an
entire generation of Americans. We couldn't be happier to add our own
chapter to this storied history.
A change this dramatic won't happen without consequences, perhaps even
some
disruptions. Here are a few of the thorny issues that we hope everyone
in
the broader Topeka community will bear in mind as we begin one of the
most
important transitions in our company's history:
Correspondence to both our corporate headquarters and offices around the
world should now be addressed to Topeka Inc., but otherwise can be
addressed
normally.
Google employees once known as "Googlers" should now be referred to as
either "Topekers" or "Topekans," depending on the result of a board
meeting
that's ongoing at this hour. Whatever the outcome, the conclusion is
clear:
we aren't in Google anymore.
Our new product names will take some getting used to. For instance,
we'll
have to assure users of Topeka News and Topeka Maps that these services
will
continue to offer news and local information from across the globe.
Topeka
Talk, similarly, is an instant messaging product, not, say, a folksy
midwestern morning show. And Project Virgle, our co-venture with Richard
Branson and Virgin to launch the first permanent human colony on Mars,
will
henceforth be known as Project Vireka.
We don't really know what to tell Oliver Google Kai's parents, except
that,
if you ask us, Oliver Topeka Kai would be a charming name for their
little
boy.
As our lawyers remind us, branded product names can achieve such
popularity
as to risk losing their trademark status (see cellophane, zippers,
trampolines, et al). So we hope all of you will do your best to remember
our
new name's proper usage:
Finally, we want to be clear that this initiative is a one-shot deal
that
will have no bearing on which municipalities are chosen to participate
in
our experimental ultra-high-speed broadband project, to which Google,
Kansas
has been just one of many communities to apply.
Posted by Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Topeka
Inc.
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