Google Android built a reputation as a lauded operative system, but few outside its cult of developers and smart techies had any reason to fall in love with the brand. Google Android needed help defining what it stood for, to turn the brand from a little-known operative system to a coveted smartphone experience that could rival Apple. 

Through secret shopper visits to retail career stores, fielding a 25-question quantitative survey and conducting over 75 man-on-the-street interviews, the word “weird” was interrogated. It was how Apple users described Android users, and a negative word turned badge of pride for Android users. "Weird" was found to stand for choice, options and personal preferences. Android users were able to design a smartphone and interface experience that reflected their own personal needs, not someone else’s — a very “weird” thing to do to an Apple user stuck in a monoculture that valued ease and ingenuity over individuality. 

The “individuality over monoculture” strategic insight turned into Google Android’s multi-year, successful campaign, Be Together, Not The Same.