Skip to Content

Inside Google Marketing: What we learned from the Pixel 3 launch

Published
November 2018

Data is a marketer’s best friend, especially when you’re gearing up to launch a new product. Insights from past campaigns can provide a solid foundation for ideas and decision-making, but as the marketing team for the Pixel 3 learned, it’s just as important to lean into creative instincts.

“Dreaming has become lost a little bit in our industry, because of the amount of data we have,” says Jabari Hearn, global integrated marketing director at Google. “Every day I try to inspire my team to dream, and that’s an important piece if you want to take consumers someplace new.”

To prepare for the Pixel 3 launch, Hearn worked with Google teams around the world to gather insights and find new creative opportunities. One such insight — that it takes about three weeks for people to get used to a new routine — sparked a campaign to convert new Pixel 3 users. Watch Hearn explain why it’s up to marketers to keep dreaming on behalf of the consumer, and how a diverse team can help you get there.

0:01

Every day I try to inspire my team to dream.

0:08

To dream on behalf of our consumer.

0:09

What place can we take them next?

0:11

Where can we go that's new?

0:12

My name is Jabari Hearn.

0:16

I am the Global Integrated Marketing Director for mobile hardware.

0:21

That means I have to take a group of people, many who don't report to me, and inspire them

0:24

to work together towards a specific goal.

0:28

I partner closely with product marketing as they define what the product does.

0:32

And then my team's job is to tell great stories about that product, right?

0:37

And really connect it to consumers. Drive demand, drive desire for those products.

0:40

We are always trying to test and learn within hardware.

0:45

And so now that we have two years of learnings, what we did to kick things off for Pixel 3

0:46

was we had an insights off-site.

0:51

We brought all the marketers from all the countries and we laid out all of our learnings.

0:56

We learned an insight that it takes about three weeks for you to get used to a new routine,

0:57

a new idea.

1:01

So we're actually going to give the new Pixel 3 to current iPhone users and ask them to

1:02

switch for three weeks.

1:04

And we are going to follow them around and see what it is like

1:05

authentically.

1:09

We've always been a brand that gives people the tools to do the things that they always

1:11

wished they could.

1:17

Well I think our biggest asset in hardware is the brand of Google and a lot of the software

1:22

that comes along with it, like Google Photos, Google Lens, Google Assistant and the

1:27

things that power the device and actually are the assistive features that consumers

1:28

really use every day.

1:31

Believe it or not, I doubt myself in the middle of every campaign.

1:34

You are taking a leap, for the most part, based on what you know.

1:36

But you don't know everything.

1:38

And, ultimately, the consumer decides.

1:42

I think motivating the team is one of the most important things you can do.

1:45

We have to show people the vision of where we are going, right?

1:48

And we have to get them inspired by that vision and then we have to show them how they're

1:50

gonna play a role in getting us there.

1:56

And I actually believe that dreaming has become lost a little bit in our industry, but that's

1:58

an important piece if you want to take consumers some place new.

Others are viewing

Marketers who view this are also viewing