CEO Zhang pointed out to us, the size of a company’s advertising budget might be viewed as a reflection of the distance between the company and its customers. For example, the annual brand value report issued in 2013 by the consulting firm Interbrand noted that Google’s advertising budget is just a tiny fraction of Coca-Cola’s. The likely reason: Google is deeply integrated into people’s lives through its many productivity and social applications, giving it constant user feedback that Coca-Cola doesn’t receive.
