All Things Digital

No big surprise here. Google is the single most powerful brand in the world. Though it did little promotional advertising, the company for the second consecutive year claimed the top spot on Millward Brown Optimor’s annual BrandZ™ Ranking–a list of the top 100 most powerful global brands.

According to the market research firm’s assessment of financial performance and consumer sentiment, Google’s (GOOG) brand alone is worth some $86 billion–$14.6 billion more than GE’s (GE) and $15.2 billion more than Microsoft’s (MSFT). Impressive. Especially since that $86 billion represents a 30% jump from 2007.

That said, Google is not the big winner in the year-over-year increase in the tech brand-value competition. That honor belongs to Apple (AAPL), whose brand grew in value by 123%.

The big losers? No surprises here, either. Yahoo’s (YHOO) brand slipped 13% in value year-over-year, Motorola’s (MOT) 30%.

According to the results of the 2007 CoreBrand Power 100 study (PDF), Microsoft (MSFT) has suffered significant erosion of its brand power since 2004. The software giant fell to No. 59 in Corebrand’s ranking of global brands for 2007, down from No. 11 in 2004.

Why? The market research firm speculates that the decline could have something to do with Apple’s (AAPL) “Hi, I’m a Mac” ads.

“The effect of Apple’s ‘Hi, I’m a Mac’ advertising campaign may have taken its toll on Microsoft,” CoreBrand CEO James Gregory said in a statement. “The launch of a series of new products, following a long, relatively dormant period, will be closely watched to see if it will have a positive impact on the Microsoft brand.”

Yeah, Vista probably had nothing to do with it …

YouTube’s going white label. This morning the online video outfit published APIs (application programming interfaces) giving publishers the ability to offer YouTube’s services directly to their own users. The move allows for the creation of so-called “chromeless” players–tailored to a publisher’s specifications and outfitted in their own branding–through which videos can be uploaded and viewed without ever visiting YouTube’s site. From the announcement:

YouTube’s latest API offerings allow anyone building a Web site or software application that is connected to the Internet to upload videos straight to YouTube; let users comment, rate and favorite the videos; and customize and control the Flash player in which the videos are played. This can be used in conjunction with the existing APIs, which launched last year and which provide the ability to view videos on other sites and to search for videos on YouTube.

“The enhancements to the YouTube APIs and Tools offering are free and easy to use, giving YouTube users yet another way to engage the world of video and actively participate in the YouTube community wherever they are, whenever they want.”

Of course, these enhancements also give YouTube and, by extension, Google (GOOG), another way to engage the world of advertising. In the API’s terms of service, YouTube reserves the right to serve ads through a publisher’s API Client, but prohibits publishers from selling their own. Two relevant excerpts from the TOS:

I. Definitions
“API Data” means any data or content, including but not limited to YouTube video content, obtained from YouTube using any YouTube API, including advertising content that YouTube may, in its sole discretion, provide along with or insert in data or content obtained from YouTube using the YouTube API.”

4. Commercial Use. You agree not to use the YouTube API for any prohibited commercial uses, which include the following actions taken without YouTube’s express approval:

• the sale of the YouTube API, API Data, YouTube video content or related services, or access to any of the foregoing;
• use of the YouTube API for the primary purpose of deriving revenues from your API Client, such as advertising or subscription revenue or the sale of copies of the API Client;
• the sale of advertising, sponsorships or promotions targeted to, within or on the API Client or YouTube video content.

Ah. So that’s how it is: YouTube doesn’t just broadcast you, it broadcasts advertisements as well.

UPDATE: YouTube product manager Jim Patterson tells TechCrunch that the API is open to YouTube Partners, who will share in the advertising generated by their players.

We are not introducing any fundamentally new way to monetize. Any video that is uploaded through our API is treated exactly as on YouTube.com. In general if a video is uploaded to YouTube, in some cases we serve ads into that on YouTube.com. When people embed those we reserve rights to serve ads in the future.”

The only difference between Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s letter to shareholders and his all-hands memos to employees is the capital letters. Besides that, it’s really just another restatement of the same “we have a lot to be excited about” arguments Yang’s restated thrice already to employees (see “Yahoo CEO to Employees: Thank You for Not Quitting,” “May the Head Winds Be Always at Your Back, Yahoo” and “Yang to Employees: Nothing to See Here. Please Disperse.“)

In short, Microsoft (MSFT) bid BAD, Yahoo’s continued independence GOOD. Also, Yahoo’s (YHOO) board is “continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!’s strategic options.” Yeah, all two of them–”Yes, we’ll accept your bid” and “No, we’d prefer a nasty proxy fight.”

Anyway, here’s the letter in all its redundant glory …

Dear Stockholders,

On Feb. 1, 2008, Microsoft made an unsolicited proposal to acquire your company. As much has been reported in the press recently, I wanted to reach out to you personally to let you know why your Board of Directors, after a careful review by Yahoo!’s management along with our financial and legal advisers, believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! and is not in the best interests of our stockholders.

Most importantly, I want you to know that your Board is continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!’s strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment, and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all our stockholders.

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