It is called: making a personal connection with your fans (however you do: showing off your cat, mentioning your family or just having fun in public and in a way you want to).
... c'mon - he isn't working on algorithms 24/7 5 days a week - he is just a public face of G. Maybe not <just>... but definitely - a very successful and important part of G PR campaigns. Like a Michael Jordan was and still is a for Nike.
We have seen many attempts by G to find another public face that the world would accept, but nobody else has been accepted yet.