Emotions – Ok Google

Time and again Alphabet’s Google is known for having the simplest yet elegant advertisements that commemorate various daily-life events and invoke our emotions. One of the very recent spots by Google was a heart-warming short that acknowledged Father’s Day.

‘Hero – The Bollywood Story’ is a film that revolves around a son, who convinces his dad to come and stay with him in Mumbai. The conflict arises as they recollect how the dad had taken an oath not to go to Mumbai.

The film progresses to show how the father ran away to Mumbai with an aspiration to be an actor. However, he was forced to come back just before getting his first break. The adamant son takes Google’s help (through ‘Ok Google’ search) to formulate a plan and make him realise the dream of being a Bollywood star.

This is not the first time that the search engine giant aimed at triggering our emotions. Back in the day, Google had released an extremely emotional advert that left India and Pakistan in awe. Titled ‘Reunion’, the advert portrays the reunion of two childhood friends, who were separated by the India-Pakistan partition.

The ad depicts the men, who are now old, recollecting their good old times and the joyful childhood in Lahore, sharing with granddaughter, how they together stole sweets from a shop. Making an attempt to reunite the granddad with his childhood friend, the granddaughter switches to Google search engine to track granddad’s friend in Pakistan. Taking a step further, the Pakistani man’s grandson arranges a surprise reunion for the childhood friends at New Delhi.

Striking the emotional chord of both Indians and Pakistanis, the advertisement by Google was a splendid initiative to promote peace and prosperity between India and Pakistan. While the advert may sound and feel very warm, engaging and emotional, one has to appreciate Google for taking such a bold and risky step at a point in time when there is friction between the countries.

Reviving childhood bonds and creating room for introspection between the countries, the advertisement, conceptualised by Abhijit Avasthi of the Ogilvy India team, stands as a masterpiece in the creative communications design.

It is not every day that we see an agency picking up a sensitive topic, bits of acrimonious memories and tries to revive the connections between people, when someone does, it goes viral and trends on Google.

By: Tushar Kalawatia