Project date(s) 2017 - 2019
My role Project Lead, Interactive Art Director
Project Summary Google Home Mini changed the smart home device game for Google. For over 2 years, and thousands of variations, the advertising creative I lead helped Google Home Mini sell millions of units.
Personas Tech Forward Parents, Smart Home Enthusiasts, Google Ecosystem Users
The challenge When the Google Home Mini launched most people didn’t know the power of what the phrases “Hey Google,” or “Ok Google,” could accomplish. Our research showed that consumers didn’t understand why they needed a hands-free smart home device. In other words, there were no obvious use-cases for the Google Home Mini. Other consumers got the Google device confused with other brand’s, and those brand’s devices didn’t have the same features or smart home connectivity at the time. One other major challenge with any banner advertisement is simply getting a user to engage with it.
Solution When you only have a matter of seconds to catch someone’s attention and try to engage with your brand, it’s best to stand out and put the product in motion. This gave a consumer a better sense of the product’s scale and context for the use-cases presented with it. By introducing consumers to the “Hey Google,” and “Ok Google,” commands followed by statements you could use with your device, it broke down the barrier of not knowing all the things possible with a Google Home Mini device. Prominent Google ‘G’ branding made sure viewers knew that the device had the power of Google behind it, eliminating confusion with other brand’s voice activated devices.
Results This long running ad campaign was tracked to have directly sold millions of units, and indirectly sold millions more through partner e-commerce traffic. All together, Google saw 3 million devices sold within just the first 6 months of the Google Home Mini launch, due in part to this ad campaign.
