Google celebrated its 25th anniversary in September. Its Internal Communications team were tasked with developing a campaign to mark the occasion. It needed to highlight the work being done and look ahead to an exciting future.
The campaign idea had to be bigger and more creative and create pride especially the engineers and developers. This is a group notoriously challenging to engage. It had to be delivered within 90 days.
A decision was made to lean into Google’s competitive developer spirit. We borrowed from the famous T-Rex Google Dino Run game and the popularity of the multiverse, to develop a retro search game, ‘Into the Googleverse’.
Split into five realms, players had to guide the avatar – the Google T-Rex – through the Googleverse in search of the “oo” of Google in the form of 25 Googly Oorbs. These items were EMEA-specific elements that Googlers would know (e.g. GBrau beer, TechStop IT department, etc).
The game included a special Easter Egg for the eagle-eyed to find, and the player who collected the Oorbs in each realm the quickest, would be on the leaderboard.
The game was an opportunity for the Team to try something new and creative in the region and the results paid off massively.
The response to the interactive experience was overwhelmingly positive across the region. The trip down memory lane, the retro-feel and virtual leaderboard highlighted Google’s culture and earned positive feedback from engineers and developers alike.
The multi-channel approach ensured maximum publicity for the game post-launch and helped to drive plays throughout the month.
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