While Google is known for its innovative technology, its creativity has also spread to another realm: Marketing.
"Not only am I dumbest guy at Google, but I'm the sappiest," Google Creative Lab CCO Robert Wang said at Ad Age's Digital Conference Wednesday.
Between ads about a proud father chronicling his daughter's milestones to acting as a platform for the "It Gets Better" initiative, Google Creative Labs has not only mastered storytelling, both in-house and with multiple agencies, but it has probably also made you cry. A lot.
"There's a collective purpose for everyone to make a dent in the universe," Wang said, chronicling what made Google's most impressive and effective ads shine.
Parisian Love (watch below)
Made in-house, "Parisian Love" was Google's very first Super Bowl commercial in 2010. It personalizes the search experience by telling the story of a man who falls in love in Paris while studying abroad just by showing what he Googles.
"We don't lie, there was a search quality engineer and all those results were organic of the query," Wang said.
In fact, the emotional crux of the ad actually occurred only because of Google's attention to detail. At one point the Googler types in "long distance relationship advice" and then, before clicking search, erases the phrase and types "jobs in Paris."
"[The first search] didn't have high quality results, so we said you know what, 'F*** that, I'm going to move there,'" Wang said. "When you put in the limits of not lying, magical stuff happens.
Mark Lesek: A New/Old Prosthetic
"How do we find cool stories about people who use Google?" Wang asked. "We Google it."
That's how the team at Google Creative Lab found Mark Lesek's story. He lost his arm in an accident and the prosthetic his insurance covered was ineffective.
Thus, Lesek started Googling how he could build his own arm that can do everything from hold a beer to help steer a motorcycle.
After gaining recognition (in large part due to the Google ad), Lesek actually went to New York to talk to manufacturers about how they could make effective prosthetics at low price points.
Google Docs: Hall and Oates
Another rule for good Google marketing?
"Don't take yourself so f***ing seriously," Wang said. "April Fool's is our favorite day."
That mentality is how Google Creative Lab teamed up with the band Hall and Oates to make this spot that spiced up Google Docs.
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