GOOGLE YEAR IN SEARCH

TitleGOOGLE YEAR IN SEARCH
BrandGOOGLE
Product/ServiceONLINE FILM
Category C05. Multichannel Experience
Entrant Company R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Advertising Agency R/GA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Rodrigo Sobral R/Ga London Vp/Executive Creative Director
Remi Abayomi R/Ga London Group Account Director
Ricardo Amorim R/Ga London Creative Director
Paris Lawrence R/Ga London Associate Creative Director/Design
Emma Lightfoot R/Ga London Associate Creative Director/Copy
Lachlan Williams R/Ga London Senior Planner
Phil Hawksworth R/Ga London Technology Director
Jai Tedeschi R/Ga London Group Director/Production
Andy Shora/Dom Geargeoura R/Ga London Senior Open Standards Developer
Luke Wicker R/Ga London Copywriter
Wilf Eddings R/Ga London Designer
Clara Tudela/Muriel Bougherdani/Craig Jones R/Ga London Senior Visual Designer
Souad Setti/Ali Proctor-walsh/Nicola Spence R/Ga London Senior Producer
Paul Kennerly R/Ga London Creative Director/Film
Pete Brown R/Ga London Senior Copyrighter/Film
Alex Wills R/Ga London Executive Director/Content
Abdou Cisse/Akwasi Poku R/Ga London Junior Creatives

Brief Explanation

Google Year in Search is a breakthrough film telling the story of 2014 through the trillions of searches made around the world. More than a wrap up of the year, ‘Year In Search’ was a totally data driven narrative, exploring our burning questions and heartfelt reactions to big events and the minutiae of our every day lives, giving one of the most genuine perspectives of our world today.We crunched millions of lines of data to uncover the human insights hidden within Google search and turned big data into an even bigger story. It turns out that the things that we search out for say a lot about us…

The Brief

Google has lost a little of its brand love in the last few years. People see the business more than the personality and lack a powerful emotional connection. Every year, Google makes a campaign to be a part of the world’s reflection on the year that was. Increasingly, other brands are cluttering up this space making it imperative that Google stands out and delivers something genuinely unique. People search in an unfiltered and instinctive way. In 2014 the world searched trillions of times, a massive data set that offered us a snapshot of the times we’re living in. When you look at it properly, search data is a valuable survey of humanity.

How the final design was conceived

More than a wrap up of the year, ‘Year In Search’ was a data driven narrative, exploring our burning questions and reactions to big events, giving one of the most genuine perspectives of our world today. This whole process had to happen in real-time and be 'circular' as many rights could not be secured and therefore back up and replacement footage, trends and whole stories swapped in and out. To make this happen, all 3 parties, in conjunction with our excellent edit and motion graphics team had to be in constant communication to ensure that we were synched throughout the production. As we were getting close to edit lock and traffic dates were looming, we had to ensure that master footage was obtained, and transcoded as we were because we were dealing with a range of formats, frame rates, and elements that all had to be onlined, then versioned and cut down for multiple deliveries and multiple markets. We successfully delivered to TV in the US on for one of the biggest buys of the year – ABC’s NYE show. We also delivered for the biggest billboard in Time Square and a wide range of additional channels and formats.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

Google Year in Search is a breakthrough film telling the story of 2014 through the trillions of searches made around the world. First, we produced an inspirational film, called “Year in Search”, that brought people into the idea. Then, we invited them to explore the stories in greater depth in a responsive site translated into 42 different languages. The collection of stories we uncovered were turned into a Film, TVCs, an immersive website, a booklet in the New York Times, and a social content strategy. On NYE, we lit up Times Square in NYC with the biggest digital screen in the northern hemisphere, a monument to the year in the middle of the collective emotions of 1million people. We searched for science more than fiction, hope more than fear and we asked ‘how’ more than ‘why.’ From the purest questions, like ‘what is love?’, to our reactions to global tragedies, this film was a revealing look at humanity and a snapshot of the times we’re living in. We increased positive sentiment for Google by 26% during the campaign. We set out to offer a perspective of the year that only Google could tell, and we ended up creating a totally new storytelling platform.