Google Home Launch
Guests had a chance not only to experience a new product, but to understand the social context in which it belongs; a new and relevant story that gave plenty of momentum to this exciting product. In this environment, they had a chance to see how their lives can be enhanced, not hijacked, by tech.
Launching a product that’s already in a market dominated by a strong incumbent is tricky – even if you are Google. For the UK launch of Google Home, we needed to look beyond the product launch clichés and create a moment to drive sales and remind people about the product benefits and price.
While new technology creates new experiences, it also breaks down social interactions, especially in the home where family members can sit around the same table and be engrossed with their screens, rather than each other. Google Home – thanks to its voice-based interface – shifts this paradigm in favor of our social selves; from individual, screen-based interactions to shared, human experiences.
We homed in on this insight to create “Welcome Home” – a social, screen-free dining and product experience in which technology was just one of the guests. In our aspirational home, people were encouraged to put devices down and be in the moment. We turned a raw, industrial space into a beautifully designed and dressed home, where we displayed products in a warm setting – a world away from sterile tech events. The main presentation was screen-free, with guests seated at round tables enjoying a social dining experience. Product demonstrations were informal conversations, conducted in stylized rooms that mimicked real life settings – living room, bedroom and kitchen, each equipped to show off the device’s unique selling points. Guests had a chance to see how their lives could be enhanced, not hijacked, by tech.
Impact
Home away from home was a hit. Google’s sociable launch scored big with press with over 170 positive pieces of coverage and was featured in major mainstream publications ranging from lifestyle to tech.