GOOGLE PHOTOS

We’ve all taken thousands of photos, but we rarely go back and enjoy them. 

The latest version of Google Photos was all about surfacing those memories.

The company was looking for a fun, internet-breaking way to explain Google Photos’ features without being a tech explainer video. And it had to be eye-catching enough to transition that app from a free to a paid model.

I created a deck filled with ideas. At the very end of that deck was a single page that said: 

“Look at Your Photographs. Nickelback takes a trip through their photo reels to the tune of their hit song ‘Photograph’ with the help of Google Photos.”

When we presented the idea to the client, they loved it. I wrote new lyrics to the song and presented it again. Approved. We reached out to the band and had a ‘yes’ in 10 minutes. 15  minutes later, they sent us a trove of old photos so we could make an edit. 

“Look at this photograph, everytime I do it makes me laugh. Must have shot about a million more of my desert but I don’t know what for…”

This was the first time Google made a spot like this. It’s clever. It’s funny. It involves the world’s number one ‘love-to-hate-them’ band. It was a kind of internet perfect storm. The spot gained 46 million views on YouTube, an incredible play-through rate on pre-rolls, and coverage from all kinds of music/internet publications. And, while they were being entertained, all of those eyes saw all of Google Photos’ best features.