 "Google India's new ad based on the partition will warm your heart")
Here’s one viral video you should be prepared to see on your Facebook News Feed and Twitter timelines a lot over the next few days. Google has come up with a heart-warming series of advertisements, depicting how technology can bring you closer to the people you care about.
The touching Google Search advertisements show how two friends, torn apart by the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan are brought together with the help of Google’s technology. The five-part ad series starts with a foundation-laying three minute video where an older man is talking to his granddaughter, telling her about a friend he had back in Lahore before the partition and how he misses him.
The young woman, eager to see her grandfather, Baldev, reunite with his childhood friend, Yusuf, pumps in the information from the stories he would tell her into Google Search. She searches for the old mosque her grandfather spoke about, the sweet-meat shop his friend owned and the number. She gets in touch with the friend’s grandson and they plot to get the two friends meet in India – using Google Search and Google Now, of course.
The two meet in a heart-wrenching reunion. When a Google advertisement makes you go, “aww,” you know they’ve hit the nail on the head. The next in the series of ads include a bitter-sweet tiff about an India-Pakistan cricket match, using Google Search to translate words from Urdu to Hindi, searching for recipe videos on YouTube and going shopping using the Google tool.
Must. Not. Cry!
In an earnest Google+ post, the company explains how the advertisement was made, “Google Search helps you find whatever you’re looking for. We’ve brought this idea to life in a short video showing how human passion and hope can overcome time and borders. In this story, a woman in India reunites her grandfather with his childhood friend (who is now in Pakistan) following six decades of separation since the partition of India—with a little help from Google. We hope this is a reflection of the many stories of reunion. If you find it moving, share it—and tell us your own story in the comments.”
In the face of growing competition, Google is trying to bolster its position as a multi-dimensional search tool that is accessible even on mobile. The ad concentrates on not just Google Search for the web – in fact, apart from a couple of instances, the web aspect is not shown at all – but also its Android accessibility. Well, if it is going to be through such real and emotional advertisements, Google has managed to turn on the charm for its humane angle really well.
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