Colored letters used on a website

[lvdwp]

Hello everyone!

I have a boss who wants the last letter in his business name to be colored red whenever the company name is typed out in regular text, just like it is in his company logo. XYZCompanyZ is all over our website, in our press releases, etc, in an attempt that he says is to "increase brand awareness".

My questions are:

1. Does this mean that Google only sees XYZCompany or does it see the full word, XYZCompanyZ even though there is a <span wrapped around the Z?

2. Can anyone provide me some credible proof that this is completely wrong for countless reasons? (i.e. hyperlinks are supposed to be colored, it looks horrible, etc?) I know that it is very bad to try to imitate your logo in text but I cannot find the right words or references.

Thanks a TON!

Chris
Creative Director (At least I thought I was...)