Google Maps partnered with a leading mobile gaming app for a native advertising campaign designed to drive brand awareness, engagement, and app downloads. A Google Maps-branded topic on the QuizUp app allowed users to compete against each other to answer geography questions which integrated Google Maps imagery. At the end of the game, users were prompted to download Google Maps. The campaign successfully created a non-disruptive mobile advertising solution.
Objective and Context:
The rapid rise of mobile apps and games has created unique opportunities for brands to effectively engage today’s consumer. By forming partnerships with up-and-coming apps, brands become more relevant and able to speak with consumers on their terms. Google wanted to use these insights to get iOS users who did not have the Google Maps app to engage with its brand. Brand research showed that many people mistakenly believed they had the Google Maps app installed when they were actually using Apple Maps.
Target Audience:
The campaign’s focus was on getting iOS users between the ages of 20 and 40 to engage with the Google Maps brand, specifically targeting high-consumption mobile users. The demographic targeting was broad because Google Maps is a product everyone can use, and mobile gamers have become synonymous with mobile users. Approximately 73 percent of the campaign’s target audience plays online games at least once per month.
Creative Strategy:
Google built a partnership with Plain Vanilla, an app development company, to introduce a branded gaming element into the already-successful QuizUp gaming app. QuizUp — the fastest-growing game in App Store history — sees players from around the world face off in a series of themed quizzes. As QuizUp’s first advertiser, Google created a branded quiz topic called “Earth from Above,” which let users test their geography skills on mobile or tablet. This created an environment where users could be exposed to Google Maps imagery and features, with goals of driving awareness, brand engagement, and installs for Google Maps.
Overall Campaign Execution:
The entire campaign was executed in the mobile space; Google had never previously partnered with an app on an activation with this level of integration.
Mobile Execution:
A native integration created specifically for mobile, the “Earth from Above” quiz on QuizUp introduced 1,000 questions that prompted players to battle head-to-head in real time based on a clue given using Google Maps’ satellite imagery. Players were challenged to quickly identify cities, geographic features, historical monuments, and popular landmarks from around the world. At the end of the game, users received a prompt to download the Google Maps app for iPhone or iPad.
By integrating content into the QuizUp game, Google could speak to consumers on their terms and at the right time. The gaming activation seamlessly demonstrated some of the features that make Google Maps unique, particularly on a mobile device.
Google deemed the campaign a success with the following metrics from the first two weeks of the integration:
