XX Artists / Monks

Year in Search / Most Searched 2023 (Social)

In 2023 Google celebrated its 25th birthday. This is a major milestone for any brand, but in the tech industry where innovation and newness are key values, Google’s silver anniversary presented a unique challenge and opportunity.


For the brand’s largest annual campaign, “Year in Search,” they wanted to celebrate legacy while also demonstrating authenticity, relevance, and relatability with Gen Z (a key audience for long term brand health/equity). We solved this through a social-first and audience first approach anchored upon two key pillars:

  1. Utilizing Gen Z & internet culture to inform “most searched” query topics, tone/aesthetics, and the overall campaign content

  2. A quick-turn strategy, utilizing social listening, community engagement and timely campaign data to inform reactive social content

 

Social “Stan Films”

Rather than view Gen Z as a monolith, we developed a hyper-relevant/focused content approach that would truly make individuals and (niche) communities feel seen and heard. We tapped into bespoke internet fandoms (“stans”) by connecting their passions with most searched queries— serving them with authentic & reflective content, tonality, and aesthetics.

Results

2023 marked the highest viewership numbers of any Year in Search campaign to date. Similarly, the social campaign greatly exceeded benchmarks, earning the highest positive engagements and engagement rate compared to all previous Year in Search campaigns.

Quick-turn Content x Community Engagement

To help extend campaign energy while driving participation and chatter with our social community, we developed a series of low-lift, quick-turn engagement posts. Topics were informed and optimized by timely social listening, determining which most searched themes/topics were Gen Z relevant AND driving the highest conversation volume. Audience engagement kept conversations flowing beyond the initial posts.

Results

While this content required very little from a resourcing standpoint, it drove some of the highest levels of (positive) community engagement across the entire Year in Search campaign.