Bowl header bidding
“We knew we just couldn’t take their attention for granted,” Google group marketing manager, Duncan McGrath, said of the tech giant’s latest B2B marketing campaign. “With increased media fragmentation and multi-screen behaviour, it’s well established that as marketers, we need to earn our audience’s attention. However, this is more commonly considered a B2C task. But it’s equally true in B2B – and necessary.
“It’s especially so in our case, where we are trying to market to SMBs who are among the most time poor people on the planet. We knew we couldn’t take their attention for granted. That played a big part therefore in how we devised the specifics on strategy and product. But from the outset, we wanted to bring creativity to the task so we could make sure we cut through.”
So sums up Google’s new B2B marketing campaign unveiled on 1 July. Fronted by iconic Aussie character, Sharon Strzelecki, the ‘If Shaz can do it, youse can too’ campaign engages the comedic cleverness of actress, Magda Szubanski, through her Kath N Kim character, to show small and medium businesses – SMBs – how straightforward it is to use Google Ad tools to find customers. The creative demonstrates this through the ‘Bowled & Beautiful’ Salon, Sharon’s new hairdressing business offering a range of bowlcut hair styles to consumers willing enough to adopt them.
In the mix are a five-minute how-to explainer, which features ‘Silicon Valley Strzelecki’ setting up a search campaign through Google Ads. There’s also a four-minute ‘mockumentary’ detailing how Sharon’s Bowled & Beautiful salon came to life. Featured in the video are her dynamic salon staff, as well as highlights of styling options from the ‘Ramekin’ to the ‘bowl and spoon’. Plus there’s a cameo of Australian Cricket legend, Adam Gilchrist, along with 60-second and 15-second YouTube video spots.
In addition, an in-show media integration with David Koch’s Business Builders program on Channel 7 sees Kochie interviewing Sharon and testing out some of her innovative product wares. Google is also hoping to kickstart a ‘bowl cut aficionado movement’ on LinkedIn thanks to a generative AI bowl cut overlay tool allowing anyone to don a Sharon-inspired hairdo.
A dedicated Bowled & Beautiful website is also available, found via an easter egg-styled search campaign using the search term ‘noice haircuts’. All creative carries the tagline, ‘If Shaz can do it, youse can do it’. The concept and execution has been done with creative agency, Emotive.
Why, how shift
Well before any creative was dreamed up and Sharon came on the scene was the impetus to shift from ‘why’ SMBs should use Google Ad tools, to ‘how’ to actually use them, according to McGrath. While many SMBs are aware of and even consider Google Ad tools as an important way of finding new customers, Google insights found they’re faltering on conversion.
“The challenge was even those who think it’s already important to their business were not all signing up. Some customers, having never used us before, worried they wouldn’t be able to set it up right,” McGrath told Mi3.
Adding impetus is the fact 61 per cent of Australian SMBs see acquiring new customers as their number one challenge, per Kantar data.
“Our next insight came from looking at existing customer sentiment. Many shared that concern pre-signup,” McGrath continued. “When they signed up to the ad platform though, they found it to be intuitive to use and not as hard as they thought. So this became the focus of the campaign: To show how easy it is to get started and grow marketers’ and SMB’s confidence to create their first campaign.”
Long-form was the natural format choice, McGrath says. “But our creative challenge was that we can’t just be a long boring explainer video. These people are time poor. We needed a mechanic that’s going to actually hold attention while we’re effectively educating at scale.
“That’s why the character of Sharon Strzelecki was perfect. If an accident-prone indoor leg spinner and business owner from Fountain Lakes could use it, then ‘youse can too’. That synergy between the strategic messaging takeout and the character, plus Magda’s comedic genius, gave us confidence from the start this was the right idea.”
Emotive managing partner and head of strategy, Michael Hogg, says the aim was to solve a persistent perception problem around Google Ads. This required a different approach to shift the dial.
“It’s about not taking attention for granted in the B2B world because I think that is the cardinal sin so much of B2B marketing falls into,” he suggested. “There’s also that definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We’re fortunate enough to have amazing data and insight from Google into audience perceptions and usage of the product.
“There were no preconceived notions of what this campaign would look like. But there was an ambition from Duncan and the team plus a hypothesis they had to do something different. And there was that ambition to get attention.”
McGrath notes Google’s ongoing success through its longstanding, case study-led B2B campaign approach explaining ‘why’ Google Ads make sense.
“Being able to see a business owner that looks just like you and is in your vertical, and demonstrating via social proof other people are also finding it to be successful, has been really important,” per McGrath. “That messaging remains important and will be in the mix – we do need to keep reassuring people on the why. The shift we’re making with this campaign is recognising real opportunities now in growing their confidence in the how.”