Inside Google Marketing: How the Google Doodle helps us connect with people around the world

I’m very passionate about what I do.

I really believe in the power of connecting with people.

My job is to make people everywhere feel seen, feel heard, and feel valued.

My name is Perla Campos, and I am the Global

Marketing Lead for Google Doodles.

The first Doodle was actually created by Larry and Sergey, the founders of our company.

Larry and Sergey were going to go to Burning Man and wanted to have a way to tell people,

“Hey, if anything goes wrong, we’re not here.”

So they just put the Burning Man logo behind the Google logo as a sort of out-of-office message.

Twenty-plus years later, The Doodle still is about translating a message to our users,

having that connection with them.

We went from just static image to adding some animations to creating really major interactive

experiences where people can spend awhile engaging within and learning more about what

the Doodle is about.

I think that people love Doodles, especially when they see themselves in them.

Or when they can just learn something new.

My favorite Doodle of all time was the Doodle that we did celebrating Selena Quintanilla,

who was a Mexican American entertainer.

She’s somebody growing up who taught me: it does not matter where you come from, if

you work hard and you’re focused, you can achieve your dreams.

She was Mexican and she was American.

… When I would see her, I would see myself, and that was the first time that that had

ever happened.

I think beyond just from a personal perspective being able to work on this project that meant

so much to me, it was seeing the impact that it had on people.

Not only just Mexican American people in the U.S., but people all across the world who

… the idea of being a bicultural individual resonated with them.

On the Doodle team our primary goal is connection.

And I think that, that’s something that is so important for marketers, no matter what

product you’re working on, what brand you’re working on, always remember that your primary

objective is to connect with people.