Partition-based Google India ad draws tears and cheers
18 Nov 2013
The twitterati and social networking aficionados are agog over an ad by Google India, posted on YouTube, which uses the old India-Pakistan idiom to show how the search giant can be used to bring long-separated friends close again.
A Forbes magazine blog gushes that the tear-jerking spot from Google is ''so powerful, and so honest to the product, that it's a testament not only to the deft touch of the ad team that put it together, but to the strength of Google's current offering''.
The ad starts with a grandfather and his granddaughter sitting together looking at an old picture. ''This is Yusuf, my childhood best friend'', the grandfather explains. The photo shows the two sitting in front of his childhood home in the Pakistan city of Lahore, with the grandfather clearly wistful about what once was, before the 1947 Partition that was not only traumatic in itself, but created a still unresolved animosity between the culturally similar neighbours.
After the grandfather reveals a few more details, his granddaughter takes to Google, first using its standard search then employing Google's Maps and Google Plus before dialling a number and reaching Yusuf.
''The sequence of searches feels both familiar and plausible. In three minutes, you can see just where Google has taken its product in the past years. The integration of its multiple offerings make the Internet, well, just easier to navigate,'' says the Forbes writer.
''If anyone doubts brands can't become compelling storytellers, try watching this Google Hindi video without tearing (crying),'' wrote Raju, senior vice president of strategy at Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, in a tweet Saturday morning.
The advertisement, created by ad agency Ogilvy, had received over 530,000 hits till Sunday.
A Forbes magazine blog gushes that the tear-jerking spot from Google is ''so powerful, and so honest to the product, that it's a testament not only to the deft touch of the ad team that put it together, but to the strength of Google's current offering''.
The ad starts with a grandfather and his granddaughter sitting together looking at an old picture. ''This is Yusuf, my childhood best friend'', the grandfather explains. The photo shows the two sitting in front of his childhood home in the Pakistan city of Lahore, with the grandfather clearly wistful about what once was, before the 1947 Partition that was not only traumatic in itself, but created a still unresolved animosity between the culturally similar neighbours.
After the grandfather reveals a few more details, his granddaughter takes to Google, first using its standard search then employing Google's Maps and Google Plus before dialling a number and reaching Yusuf.
''The sequence of searches feels both familiar and plausible. In three minutes, you can see just where Google has taken its product in the past years. The integration of its multiple offerings make the Internet, well, just easier to navigate,'' says the Forbes writer.
''If anyone doubts brands can't become compelling storytellers, try watching this Google Hindi video without tearing (crying),'' wrote Raju, senior vice president of strategy at Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp, in a tweet Saturday morning.
The advertisement, created by ad agency Ogilvy, had received over 530,000 hits till Sunday.