Know Your Backyard
Ask: Local news sources around the country are struggling, and Google wants to bring them back into the spotlight through a new interface.
Solution: Create a connection between local communities and ant colonies. With ants, there is no ambiguity of conversation, misinformation, or mistrust—the perfect model for the future of local news.
AD: Sofia Nichols Hernandez
General OOH
Solidify the connection between communities around the United States with ant colonies to demonstrate the importance of local news sources as a resource to stay informed on our "backyards."
Localized OOH
Localize the campaign to address the small-town nature of the ask. Our heads are stuck in the latest national crisis, but do we know that Green Street closed down?
Google Ant App
The first of two new interfaces Google created to address the ask. The app contains all news stories for the users' local area, along with a town forum (AntHills) where users can comment town events/happenings for journalists to use to cater their stories to readers' interests.
Google Ant Website
The second interface, a website containing all the same localized news, along with more information such as the mission statement and ant merch.
New York Times Banner Ad
Social
Interactive Instagram story posts to further solidify the link between communities and ants by comparing local stories to common ant facts. Viewers are encouraged to guess which is which to demonstrate the similarities.
PR Stunt
Google Ant will drop ant farms in towns around the US to create buzz around the campaign. The walls will be lined with local news stories from each town and farm explorers are encouraged to read and interact with each one.
Each town ant farm will be live-streamed for OOH in major cities to reveal the stunt to as many people as possible in addition to UGC.
Earned Media
