Spikes Asia 2015: "There is no clutter": Google exec. to brands

Google's Mike Glaser spoke about the company's 'Art, Copy & Code' initiative, one that brings brands, agencies and technology experts together, in a move to re-look marketing for the digital age.

"There is no clutter,' insisted Mike Glaser, senior marketing manager, creative partnerships, Google, on a stage where speakers abused the words "...need to create clutter-breaking campaigns..."

According to Google's Glaser, "We live in a world of abundance - abundant media, abundant choice. To earn a spot in the world today, you have to replace something." He insisted that most marketing professionals commonly, but erroneously, assume that brand messaging has to be faster and shorter than it was in the past, when consumers weren't notorious for having a frighteningly low attention span.

"This is not a crowd that wants less," he said rather counter-intuitively, "It is a world where people want more of what they choose to engage with." He cited examples of fans of books and movie franchises who, after consuming the original content (that is, the book/movie), turn to the internet for more information, or any additional content they can find, on the stories they love. In fact, passionate fans even generate content, such as their own stories around the characters, alternative scenarios of the plot, and elaborate artwork centered on their favourite protagonists. A big lesson for brands, right there.

Going on to speak about Google's 'Art, Copy & Code' initiative, Glaser said, "We have a simple three step process - learn consumer behaviour, find the right moment to strike (that is, to reach out to the consumer), and be simple but deep."

This is how it is described on the official company website: "Art, Copy & Code is a Google initiative created to explore new ways in which technology can help build brands in a digital world. We develop campaigns and experiences that we hope people will love, remember and share."

Glaser illustrated his point with a few examples of campaigns executed by team Google. One of them was for American supermarket chain Target. The brief was - Make shopping fun for families during the holiday season (around Christmas). Now, the context of this brief is that during that time of the year, shopping at Target (or at any other retail chain for that matter) is an unpleasant and frustrating experience given the over-crowding, confusion and chaos. In fact, a pre-campaign survey conducted by team Google revealed that many regulars liken the experience to a war!

The campaign that followed was based on a simple fact about shopper behaviour: 87 per cent of all shoppers use their mobile phone before going to the store (to check out deals/availability of items, etc.) and 75 per cent of all shoppers use their mobile phone whilst shopping at the store.

So, while it became clear that the campaign to solve Target's problem would be a mobile-led one, team Google had another decision to make: Should they execute a utility-driven campaign that gave shoppers details about discounts, availability of specific items and useful maps of the store that could help them navigate it better during rush time? Or, should they execute a lighter, fun campaign aimed at entertaining shoppers?

The team picked fun over utility and launched a mobile game called 'Bullseye's Playground'. Now, Bullseye is the store's mascot, a dog. The idea was to being the mascot to life, in the store, through patrons' mobile phones. The game was integrated with the parallel objective of getting people to explore the store and buy things; this was done by making levels in the game contingent upon the same.

The result: Over five lakh "game plays," as Glaser terms it, were generated, and a total of 41,589 hours of play were clocked. Of course, the fun times families had while shopping and playing simultaneously, was not quantifiable, and indeed priceless.

Mike Glaser's parting words to the Spikes audience: "The next time you are presented with a big, ambitious, audacious idea that makes you really uncomfortable... say yes to it."