The top takeaways from Google Cloud Next ‘24, a creative talking billboard campaign by EasyJet, and a variety of marketing activations surrounding 4/20. Find out what’s been making the headlines in digital this past month.
At Next24 a couple of weeks ago, Google showcased the latest technologies and features designed to help businesses around the world accelerate their growth. As part of this, they launched Gemini for Google Cloud; a suite of new AI tools designed to enhance security, software development, analytics, databases, and more. The benefits of Gemini will be numerous, but 3 features stuck out to us.
Gemini Code Assist: A key integration is Gemini Code Assist; designed to streamline software development by letting developers use natural language to change, analyse and add to their code.
Google Vids: Following in the footsteps of Sheets, Docs and Slides, Google Vid, this AI-powered video creation app is the latest addition to Google Workspace and will enable real-time video collaboration. Launching in June, Google says Vids will allow people everywhere to tap into immersive storytelling at work.
AI for meetings and messaging: Another addition to Workspace is the use of AI to improve the way teams communicate. Currently in preview, ‘take notes for me’ lets you lean into conversations without worrying about taking everything down, whilst ‘Translate for me’, coming in June, will automatically detect and translate captions in Meet with support for 69 languages. By the end of the year, we’ll even be able to access on-demand conversation summaries in Google chat, making catching up on those post-holiday messages a breeze.
As well as providing a platform for Google to showcase their latest features, Google Next is an opportunity for brands around the globe to demonstrate their own Google-powered AI agents and Gen-AI solutions. Over 100 industry leaders joined the event to showcase their solutions, but here’s a handful of our favourite.
Samsung is deploying Gemini Pro and Imagen 2 to their Galaxy S24 smartphones so users can take advantage of amazing features like text summarisation, organisation, and magical image editing.
Canva is using Vertex AI to power its Magic Design for Video, helping users skip tedious editing steps while creating shareable and engaging videos in a matter of seconds.
Woolworths (flashback for our UK team there), shared how it’s boosting employees’ confidence with “Help me write” across Google Workspace products for more than 10,000 administrative employees. It’s also using Gemini to create next-generation promotions, as well as for quickly assisting customer service reps in summarising previous customer interactions in real time.
Another business using AI to boost customer service is Sutherland a leading digital transformation company focused on bringing together human expertise and AI, including boosting its client-facing teams by automatically surfacing suggested responses and automating insights in real time.
And finally, Etsy showcased how it’s using Vertex AI training to optimise search recommendations and ad models, with the goal of delivering better listing suggestions to buyers and helping sellers grow their businesses
Thinking of a career change? What about switching your office desk for a seat in a commercial airline cockpit? You might think your chances of becoming a pilot are slim, but EasyJet’s new recruitment campaign seeks to dispel misconceptions about the role.
As a part of the airline’s ongoing efforts to encourage more women to become pilots, they set up a talking billboard in central London, which featured real-life pilot, Sarah Anerley, aiming to debunk myths and challenge stereotypes about the role.
In addition to the billboard is an online aptitude test that gives people the chance to test some of the key skills required for the role, such as reaction time (think fast!)
Research conducted by EasyJet showed that many people believe there are high barriers to entry for pilot roles, such as the need for a university degree or 20/20 vision, neither of which are necessary. It also revealed that many children perceive piloting as a ‘male’ role, due to the lack of female pilots in films and the media. EasyJet hopes their interactive campaign will change these perceptions and promote the diversity of their workforce.
EasyJet captain Sarah Ackerley, who is featured in the campaign, said “I hope by more people taking our interactive test, they can challenge themselves to discover a talent they never knew they had, and I hope to see them flying with us in the future”.
The obvious benefactors of the growth of the legal cannabis market are weed-lovers across the globe, but while increased legality is a win for stoners, it’s also a huge opportunity for brands, too.
Where weed-based merch might have been tacky and cliche in the past, this year’s 4/20 campaigns have shown that cannabis consumption is going mainstream (in some regions), and brands are ready to capitalise on this zen new market space.
Taking a more high-class approach to merch this year is lighter brand Zippo, who launched a set of four brass lighters for weed smokers “who value form as much as function”.
Showing that more is in fact more when it comes to post-smoke snacks, munchie connoisseur Jimmy John’s launched a limited edition “dime bag” featuring a full meal, as well as a branded rolling tray, cap, and stickers, all for just $10.
And it’s not just the smoke-focused brands getting in on the fun, with Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza launching pre-rolls; snack sized Strombolis wrapped to look like joints.
Even compost brand Miracle Gro saw a marketing opportunity with the release of their ‘edible garden’. Designed to position gardening as a fun post-edible activity, it gives users everything they need to grow healthy munchies! And if you’re not quite convinced by beetroot as a post-smoke snack, their promotional video might change your mind…
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