The AP’s Michael Lidtke did a bang-up job of examining the rise of Google’s brand without heavy spending on marketing. He notes the company has relied on word of mouth marketing and taken advantage of the media’s “obsessive coverage of its every move” to establish the company in a relatively short span.

Among the highlights of the piece:

Rivals Microsoft and Yahoo dumped 20 percent of their annual revenue into sales and marketing, while Google allocated 8 percent, or $849.5M, in 2006. That includes $188M for advertising and promotions alone, or the same amount Microsoft spends every two months.

Lidtke gives a great deal of credit to the company’s PR savvy and ability to capitalize on “the media’ fixation on the company,” noting some outlets even filed stories in 2005 on the company’s search for an executive chef.

Consulting firm Millward Brown Optimor puts Google’s brand worth at $66 billion, tops in the world, while Interbrand pegs it at $17.8 billion, or No. 20.

Google's marketing chief David Lawee hinted that the company will probably need to boost its marketing spending to support its "peripheral products" beyond its search engine.