Brief:
74% of South Africans are not properly connected to mobile internet. Our brief was to create a campaign that put a smartphone in every South African’s hands, and to get them using all the Google-powered apps that come built-in, from Google Maps to Youtube and Gmail, to name a few. To add to this, we also needed to find a way to get existing, yet unconnected, Android smartphone users to make use of this full suite of built-in apps. The end goal being: to make day-to-day life a little easier and more connected than ever before.
Solution:
While 74% of South Africans are not connected to mobile internet, a large portion of the population is under 35, and very tech-savvy. So we created a campaign that was made up of two parts. One part was to speak directly to unconnected South Africans, in ways that they could relate to, showing them how the Google suite of apps could be helpful and relevant to their daily lives. The second part was to use our “army” of tech-savvy South African’s to help do a bit of our job for us – helping the unconnected to become more connected.
The ‘Go Ask’ campaign made smart use of two separate call-to-actions ‘CTAs’, and two different kinds of messaging – when speaking to the unconnected South African’s, we’d use strategically placed outdoor with tactical copy to prompt and teach users how to better use the Google applications on their phones such as “What time is best to go to home affairs? Go ask, with Google Search on your phone.”
When talking to connected South Africans, we’d say, “Got a friend or family member who needs directions to an event? Go show them how, with Google Maps.”
Splitting our CTAs into “Go ask” and “Go show them” depending on who we were talking to and where we were saying it, we were able to effectively communicate with the unconnected South African’s through the connected South Africans—often their friends and family members—those they trusted most for assistance and advice above all others.
We collaborated with mobile retailers and devised special promotions that allowed connected South Africans, seeking device upgrades, to provide their unconnected family members with ‘Android Go’-enabled devices.
Google Africa – Go Ask
Credits:
Executive Creative Director – Ana Rocha
Strategy Director – Robynne Bisset
Client Service Director – Lorna Downs
Creative Group Head (Art Director) – Thabiso Junior Ntuli
Creative Group Head (Copywriter) – Warrick Sherrell
Project Management Lead – Lerato Mtshali
Post Producer – Nselelo Mthembu
Animation – VMLY&R Vault
Branding & Identity • Retail Design • Outdoor • Commerce
Google Africa and VMLYR Cape Town © 2023
