Google

A retail advocacy program that makes the grade

Challenge

Turning retail partners into brand ambassadors.

As a long-time Google partner with experience helping the tech giant develop brand identities, guidelines and campaigns, we have grown our relationship with their retail business over the years to include global work in both internal and consumer-facing content. As a challenger brand in the mobile hardware space, Google needed help persuading customers to make the switch from iPhone to Pixel. Research shows that brand advocacy is a key driver of sales and that retail sales associates (RSAs) are critical to that advocacy. As a result, VSA set to work on ways to creatively engage, educate and motivate RSAs to evangelize Google hardware in stores. We understood that RSAs had limited time to interact with training, and also determined that elements like on-device time, real-life demos and content that made them feel like part of the Google family would be critical to our success.

Solution

An evergreen program, made new each season.

Competing brands mostly focus their associate training and loyalty programs on premium branding. We wanted to create an experience that was uniquely Google, pulling in the more lighthearted aspects of the brand while using high-quality materials and production methods to match their hardware’s style of sophisticated products with a human feel. The resulting product was a cohesive brand experience that extended from physical kits through internal training platforms. Entertaining educational content and design, paired with exclusive swag items and training modules, made RSAs feel more like extensions of the Google brand who were getting a peek behind the curtain. As an ongoing initiative, these training materials get a refresh each season, with new visuals and content themes to keep the program feeling fresh, engaging and relevant.

Our work included

  • Design System
  • Visual Expression
  • Sales Enablement
  • Brand Strategy
  • Content Strategy

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likelihood of Ph.Gs to recommend Google products to customers*

year-over-year increase in active Ph.Gs through increased digital programming and content

*Survey report of active Ph.Gs Q1 2020.