Android is the platform that’s changing what mobile can do. It’s the reason your GPS avoids traffic, your watch can text and your Assistant can answer questions. It’s the operating system inside 2.5 billion active devices and being open source means it’s available to everyone: developers, designers and device makers. That means more people can experiment, imagine and create things the world has never seen.
However with many key messages, a web of technically-advanced stories and multiple key audiences it is increasingly challenging to gain cut-through and recognition for the innovation that Android delivers every day.
Our objective is to further the brand’s narrative as a helpful innovator, drive pickup and message pull-through among influential voices and media, and spark ‘long-tail’ engagement across its influential audiences.
To gain cuthrough with the influential voices and tech media within Android’s audience, we developed and launched a social-first content marketing strategy with an editorial focus that appeals directly to their interests. It brings the audience behind-the-scenes of Android’s product roadmap to show how it designs features to be helpful to people’s everyday lives.
We firmly believe success in owned content correlates with greater success in media pick up, which ultimately leads to increased, relevant social conversation about the brand.
This strategy helps Android shape and lead its own narrative, in an ever-changing technology and media landscape.
Implementation
Understanding the target audience: Using insights from deep audience analysis, we identified a significant subset among Android’s most engaged audience across social channels as tech journalists, bloggers and influencers who shape the broader perception of the Android brand. This group provided an opportunity moving forward, as it clarified that Android already had the ability to reach its key audiences, we just needed to ensure the content resonated with them. Further, by focusing on the most influential among Android’s audience we could look to increase advocacy.
Planning and story development: With a dedicated Brand Editor and access to Android and Google subject matter experts and partners, we built a 2019 editorial calendar and message house that focused on a handful of key themes including: 5G, Digital WellBeing, Google Assistant, AR/VR and Android OS updates. Through extensive topic and trends research across online media and social conversation, these themes were identified as the top tech topics for the year that our audience was interested in covering and finding out more about; and were in lock-step with Android’s brand and product priorities. By narrowing in on these themes, we implemented ongoing, episodic storytelling that let us go deeper on complex topics and maintain message frequency.
Key Features
Android’s stories are typically told through 2-3 minute hero videos hosted on the brand’s YouTube channel that dive deep into the topic with interviews, illustrations, motion graphics and user interface examples. Regular content capture sessions with subject matter experts and partners enables us to create an ongoing pipeline of video content for Android’s social channels.
This format lets us cover off multiple viewpoints and key messages in a single video and positions Android’s YouTube channel as a one-stop shop for up-to-date news and editorial content.
We also go deeper with extension content across Android’s social channels that shows providers additional context, explains more of the technology and shows specific use cases. This is done via photography, illustrated GIFs, motion graphics and short video clips.
To maintain excellent, creative standards and a recognizable look and feel for all of Android’s social content we created a playbook which sets out how to create the stories our opted-in audience craves while following brand and copywriting guidelines.
We set out to further Android’s narrative as a helpful innovator through an editorial style content marketing approach. KPIs include message pull-through in social conversation and earned media, as well as ‘long-tail’ engagement across intended audiences.
Examples of top media results include:
