Gmail Africa “Choose Gmail” Campaign 2011
Introducing Gmail to the largest continent demanded a campaign with a very big idea.
When Google Africa wanted more people in Africa to use Gmail as their primary email platform, they got in touch with us. We were honored, flattered, excited, you name it. We dove right in. And we learned a lot of fascinating things that held true all over this enormous – and enormously diverse – continent.
Like how important color is. (It’s important everywhere, of course, but Africans place special value on it.) And how the most well-received work is direct, approachable, laid back and doesn’t try too hard. In addition to our own research, the Google Africa marketing team was invaluable in helping us get it right.
A campaign built from distinctively African words and pictures.
After doing our homework, we developed the “Choose Gmail” campaign, which featured colorful and iconic illustrations (courtesy of our friends at Birdo) that told Africans all over the continent about the many things that make Gmail so great.
Coupled with a strong call to action that couldn’t be missed, this work appeared on enormous billboards in communities from Ghana to Nigeria and Senegal to Kenya. It also showed up on posters, t-shirts, guerilla ads, stickers, banners and, of course, the website everything linked to.
At this time, email was dominated by the likes of Yahoo! and Hotmail – Gmail was a new offering trying to just get a seat at the table. Well, signups were off the charts, and this work delivered the best results Google Africa had ever seen.
Pretty soon, Google didn’t just have a seat at the table – they owned it.
Gmail Africa “Go, Africa!” Campaign 2012
One successful Gmail campaign deserves another.
To follow up our 2011 “Choose Gmail” campaign, we worked closely with our friends at Google Africa to create this campaign to convey the power, utility and ubiquity of Gmail across all platforms, especially sms and mobile web, which are the ones most commonly used on the continent.
Our goal was to raise awareness of the fact that Gmail is simply the best way to communicate, wherever you are and whenever you want. We chose to do this by creating original art that was understated, yet colorful and couldn’t help but get noticed.
Our “Go, Africa!” campaign convinced people to go with Gmail.
The headlines aren’t what we typically see in the West, but they spoke to consumers in Africa in a way they found memorable, persuasive and relevant. To deliver our message that you could “go with Gmail,” we combined it with various modes of local transport like tuk-tuks, taxis, vans and buses.
The campaign was produced for digital media, outdoor boards, bridges and bus sides.