Strategy

Shopping online is increasing as we practice social distancing and self-quarantine against coronavirus. As we make our selections for Instacart or Amazon Prime, we buy brands that we know. We buy these brands not just because we have used them in the past, not just because we understand their benefits and not just because we trust them. We buy these brands because they make decision-making simpler. Familiar brands such as Tide, Kleenex and Lysol are comforting and trusted.

After a recent talk at the Yale CEO LATAM Forum in Miami, the CEO of one of the largest insurance companies in Latin America came up to me and said, “I hate Google.” I responded by saying “that sounds pretty harsh” and asked why he felt so strongly. His response was both simple and telling. He said that Google was “extorting much of my profits.”