Google Pixel was getting ready to launch its best and most-Google device yet: a phone designed to better help people. This hardware was built to enable real individual and societal progress by ensuring that people have the most helpful experience of Google, all in the palm of their hands.
Touting tech specs and new features wasn’t going to be enough to get people interested and excited about Pixel. We needed to communicate the emotional benefit of using a Pixel and make people really feel that Pixel can make their lives better.
We also knew it wouldn’t be enough to just say we believe. We’d have to strike the right balance between having a point of view and backing up that point of view with our product. So we set out to reframe Pixel’s innovations through a more human lens.
We started by digging into Google Pixel’s own features. Immediately, the speech and language recognition technology was a clear differentiator. Beyond the typical translation of words and phrases, Pixel phones can understand the context, emotional intent, and speed of language, in real-time, without using the Internet.
It was easy to fall into the habit of highlighting features like “Live Translate” and “Interpreter Mode” – they are innovative and exciting. But we knew we needed to stay focused on what those features really mean for the people using the phone.
With this language translation capability, Google Pixel can actually facilitate deeper connection. It can help people understand others and feel understood in ways they never have before. And through this deepened connection and understanding, Pixel users can go more places, experience more things, and meet more people.
This was our opportunity to move from what the phone enables to why that really matters. And to do what us tech companies often fail to do: focus on the people we’re innovating for, rather than our own innovations.
So we didn’t make an ad. We told a love story. A love story about two people who, despite not speaking the same language, were able to understand each other, fall in love, and laugh and cry and explore together. A love story that shows we’re all just words apart.
Even without any paid promotion, the spot received a tremendous amount of organic engagement and shares and notable positive sentiment online. The response from those who did see it, across Google owned channels like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, took away exactly what we had hoped: the feeling of love, connection, and being understood for all you are.
