Google has unveiled a digital and television campaign, The Season in Search, documenting the moments that set fans searching following the close of the 2019 AFL and AFLW seasons.
The film looks back at the moments that made Aussies search, cheer and come together, inspired by a combination of Google Trends data, collated over the 2019 AFL and AFLW seasons.
The clip was created, produced and distributed by creative agency Emotive in its first piece of work for the brand.
“For all the season’s difficulties and challenges, there were also moments of levity, perseverance and triumph," Emotive group creative director Ben Clare says.
"We wanted to capture that in a way that would elicit a strong emotional response, but importantly, serve as a poignant reminder that progress is worth searching for.
"That’s the powerful thing about search. In asking ‘why’ or ‘how’, we discover a way forward. And whilst this campaign is essentially a retrospective - a look back on 2019 - it also reminds us to look ahead.”
The campaign launched 48 hours prior to the Grand Final with a two-minute hero film distributed via 15 current and former players uploading the film across their respective social accounts.
On Grand Final day, the long length was featured on YouTube’s masthead, and then a 60 second iteration was played out in the AFL FTA broadcast on Channel Seven and live at half time at the AFL Grand Final.
After four days the film has already amassed 2.8 million views and over 87,000 social engagements.
The Season in Search story is one of progress and rising in the face of adversity, with many of the season’s defining moments reflecting issues of diversity, gender equality and struggles with mental health.
“This campaign demonstrates how Google plays an important part in not just putting the answers we need at our fingertips, but helping us with ‘how to’, and find inspiration and progress," Google AuNZ director of marketing Aisling Finch says.
Using search insights from Google Trends data along with innovative creative testing that used facial coding technology to maximize emotional intensity, the team at Emotive worked closely with Google to bring to life the most powerful story of the season, through the lens of Google Search.
It includes stories of teams who have progressed against the odds, players who have progressed to unthinkable milestones, and importantly a sporting community that has progressed to a greater sense of human understanding.
From queries looking for understanding, "why is everyone talking about Tayla Harris” to broad and purposeful queries like, “how to show respect',' the film recaps a tumultuous season before one of Australia's most important sporting events of the year.
This is the second local campaign released by Google in recent months.
In August, the tech giant launched Time Well Spent created by 72andSunny's in-house agency for the brand Anthem which reminds Australians of the power of Google Search and Maps.
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