Google Pushes Google Search App With Commercials

The commercial in the middle of an episode of “Worst Cooks In America” this weekend caught me off-guard. Was that an ad for the Google Search App? It sure was, and the restart of Google’s campaign to push its cross-platform search tool.

It was the first time I spotted this particular campaign on TV, though Google tells me they’ve been running since the fall. That’s true, but those seemed to have stopped soon after the New Year, and now the campaign has begun again, it looks like.

Of course, Google’s no stranger to TV ads these days, such as Google Now recently getting a commercial during the Grammys. But pushing the Google Search app is fairly unique. It’s a Google product that the company has for three major platforms out there: Android, iOS and Windows, as the closing frames of these ads highlight:

Despite the ads, which are clever and cute, they don’t seem to have helped uptake on iOS. As I covered last week, in Will Google Now For iPhone & iPad Boost Google Search App Usage?, the Google Search app shows nowhere near the popularity as Google’s YouTube or Google Maps apps for the iPhone and iPad.

The Search App Ads

Here are all the ads in the campaign, from the most viewed on YouTube and working down the list.

The “Martin Van Buren” spot tops the list, posted November 20, 2012, with 12 million views so far. A mother has to turn her daughter into US president Martin Van Buren, at the last minute. Google to the rescue:

Next up, the “Replacement Umpire” spot, also from November 20, with nearly 7 million views. “Google, what is the strike zone?”

From December 20, the “Interview” ad has just over 4 million views and has a job candidate quickly learning something about his interviewer by using the search-by-image feature:

Also from December 20, “Smart Dad” with 3 million views has a dad seeming to know everything — with the secret help of Google’s search app:

Finally, the most recent ad posted March 6, with only about 100,000 views so far, has a daughter hoping Google will report that her father’s flight is cancelled, so they can have a snow day:

About The Author

Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, MarTech Today and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.