You can also listen to the podcast, for the same blog post, here
2020 has been a year of a lot of firsts.
The first time we learned the concept of ‘work from home’ in the real sense.
The first time we saw many brands advertise uniquely- away from their usual brand connection.
2020 is also the year when Google decided to advertise for many of its products, including Google Ads, Google Pay, Google Nest, Google Search, etc.
So in today’s blog post, we analyze Google’s advertising efforts to woo the Indian audiences.
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Advertising Background-
Google is this one brand, that in my opinion has no set group of target audiences.
It caters to everyone with its product portfolio and manages to communicate precisely that, through its advertising.
It’s quite rare for a brand as big as Google who enjoys a close form of monopoly in specific segments, to advertise and too on such a large scale.
But what lead them to do this?
For a brand, advertising may not be a solution only when we need to increase sales, it may have a deeper thought process attached.
In the case of Google, it’s a combination of brand recall and developing a deeper brand connection.
Think about it.
If Google stopped analyzing their audiences and their performance, they wouldn’t retain their top position and that’s where the need for advertising comes through.
Let’s analyze their ad campaigns for each of their products.
Starting with the most recent one!
Google Pay- “Jaldi Karenge, Jaldbaazi Nahi”
Google Pay an instant digitized payment app has been gaining a lot of popularity in India.
In fact, I am so used to using this app for payments now that I cannot imagine my life without it.
But there is still this set of people who contemplate using a digital medium to make payments.
The thought of adding your account details online is a worry for most Indians, and they would rather spend through cash or swiping credit cards.
And I’m not just referring to the parents- who have been introduced to this new mode of payment recently, they might not get convinced even after advertising.
But the experimenter category of youngsters might get a push through advertising.
And that is what Google planned on doing.
The objective of this ad campaign was to highlight the security that this payment mode offers- it will ask you for confirmation before payment.
The app will ensure that without your UPI pin, you cannot make a transaction no matter the hurry you are in.
With the introduction of Paytm, PhonePe, and other options being provided to consumers for online payments, Google Pay had to make some effort to stand out.
The execution is amazing as well, you see the traffic-filled streets and the rickshaw wala pushing you to make the payment faster.
And in your mind, even while watching the ad, you want the person to hurry up and make the payment!
The ad also highlighted the fact, that Google Pay is adopted by so many people that you can even pay for your Rickshaw wala with it!
Google Nest Mini- “All of Google, for all of you”
With Amazon’s Alexa, advertising heavily, it was only expected for Google to do the same.
When the product is so similar to the competition, the best way to differentiate is to have a different insight to focus on through advertising.
That’s where this ad campaign comes through with the ‘Plan Your Day with Google nest’ proposition.
The objective was to highlight the ease with which the product can be used by all the members of your family, be it a kid or a grandfather.
This in turn highlights the ease of using this product!
The execution was simple and to the point, because they had multiple ad spots highlighting various uses of the product.
Google Ads- “Interested kharidaar laaye har baar”
This was Google’s way of using B2B marketing as a focal point to sell the idea of using Google Ads.
The objective again was to highlight how easy it is to list your business on google ads and then get ‘interested’ leads in return.
The focus here is around ‘interested’ leads because that’s the whole point of using a medium for advertising.
I think the execution here was very well thought of, the target audience obviously was businesses.
But adding the ‘local and small’ businesses was a great advantage here.
There were a series of ads released, promoting homemade pickles, coffee roasts, furniture, etc. through Google Ads.
An added bonus was the release of the campaign during the lockdown or rather at a time when a lot of local businesses were getting introduced.
Google Search- “Shopping se pehle, Google Search pe Shopping”
When I came across this ad campaign, in my mind I felt like at least let the e-commerce players have their own space.
Google is trying to push itself even in this area now.
But actually, the ad has a deeper connection.
The objective is not shopping through Google Search, but using Google search to get information from various e-commerce sites and then make an informed decision.
Hence the tagline- ‘shopping se pehle, Google search pe shopping’
I love the execution here, it's adding humor when one friend asks the other and the other friend just keeps rejecting the product due to price, quality, or anything else.
This is what we all experience, many times while shopping online.
I love it when brands take real and relatable content to push through their advertising!
Advertising Learnings:
So what is it that we can learn from these campaigns?
1. Advertising never stops, even if you are the market leader
Google currently owns the search engine zone with a humongous market share, and Google Ads contribute to the same tremendously.
Even then the need to further increase the usage was felt by the company, because as I always say- your competitor or the next innovation is just around the corner.
2. Regionalize your content for a better connect
Even though the objective across the campaigns was universal, they ensured that the communication was regionalized so that the consumers sitting in India could relate to it.
Conclusion:
Google uses the right insights gained from research to promote their products.
Even the pandemic doesn’t put a stop to the usage, and advertising further bolsters the entire thing.