They had a good ad campaign, but a terrible distribution program. My mom really wanted to get a Pixel, but the "only on Verizon" thing threw her, and she didn't know how to get one on AT&T.
Ooh, no wait, their phone line, after they killed "Nexus" despite building a solid brand behind that for a few years. To call it the same thing that their original Chromebook was called was just insult to injury. Whoever manages their branding obviously has no idea what they're doing. See also: "Google Apps" is now G Suite. Why? This is their official answer, along with a table to reference for what all the new names are, along with this brilliant bit about the change:
"""
We created Google Apps to help people everywhere work and innovate together, so organizations can move faster and achieve more. On September 29, 2016, we introduced a new name that better reflects this mission: G Suite.
"""
https://support.google.com/a/answer/7126147?hl=en
Given their history, the next name (due in 2018) shall be "GCloud" or "Cloud by Google".
You joke, but I am really confused what is the "official" Google phone and what is not.
First, there was the Nexus One by HTC, then Nexus S by Samsung, then Galaxy Nexus by Samsung (how is that different than Galaxy S* series?), a bunch in between that were no less confusing, and now there's a Pixel.
The Nexus branding seems to have been tied to the manufacturer, which only added to my confusion. I just want to know what is the Google sanctioned phone.
So yes, they didn't do a very good job at marketing their brand and setting it apart from the "clones".
The Nexus always were partnerships with manufacturers, but as far as I know everything that was called Nexus was an iteration of "the Google sanctioned phone"