An agile social media model built for speed, scale, and success

Gemini Social, Google

The Challenge

Google wanted to use its country-level social media handles in APAC to start building a more locally relevant presence for Gemini in the region. Sounds simple, but in fact, this brief came with multiple challenges:

Challenger Mindset

For the first time in a long time, Google was the challenger brand. Chat GPT and even Meta AI had already claimed a larger share of voice in APAC.
APAC Complexity

APAC is a complex region, with work in each market requiring local insights and nuance. Simply translating and adapting global assets wasn’t an option.
Org Complexity

In organizations as big and complex as Google, every creative asset can have multiple approvers which leads to work being dragged out for weeks.
Volume of Assets

Google wanted to create assets for 7 different markets, each with its own local language and needs, with at least 1 Gemini asset posted per market per week.
Pace of AI Evolution

Gemini was evolving rapidly, with new product launches becoming an almost weekly occurrence. Keeping pace required an agility the org didn’t yet have.
Local vs Regional

Local markets ran their own country level Google social media handles, with several competing priorities (Search, Gemini, Pixel etc.), and each with their own agenda.

The Solution

A new agile working model built for speed and efficiency over endless rounds of changes and approvals.

Working hand-in-hand with the Google Gemini product marketing team, every week would follow a process of rapid strategy and ideation, same-day approvals (or troubleshooting and revisions), followed by storyboarding, and market opt-ins. The goal was to hand over creative to the production team by the end of every week. The production team would work on execution the following week, as we repeated the creative process all over again.

This was a radical new approach for the team at Google, who were used to working with agencies that took weeks to deliver a single video asset. Here, we were delivering 5-6 localised assets a week, and continuing to learn and iterate with every one.

70% original ideas, 30% adaptations, we were only able to achieve this model with the highest degree of trust, collaboration and shared vision.

How it Works

Here’s a real example that explains this process better.

In the weekly strategy meeting, we were informed of an upcoming product launch, for which there was an existing global asset we could adapt. We looked at the global asset, and collectively felt like it didn’t feel “APAC” enough. In the following 2 days, I came up with a few different ways to approach this launch for APAC, 2 of which were taken into production.

The first, Glass elevator, was created for more aesthetically driven markets, Japan and Korea. The second, Vertical stories, was created for markets that liked seeing their everyday lives reflected in social media (India, Indonesia, and Vietnam).

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Global Asset

Glass Elevator (JP, KR)

Vertical Stories (IN, ID, VN)

We also added the prompt and video creation steps to our assets because APAC audiences prefer videos that show the full process, not just the final result. Concepts were created, approved, and signed off within a week. All assets were delivered the next week.

This is a simple example of how speed and efficiency can work hand in hand with creativity and local insight. Instead of simply translating the global asset, we captured the intent, and created new original assets which better resonated with local audiences.

The Results

In the first 6 months, we built 300+ assets across 7 markets, and tackled 19 different product launches. Google Gemini awareness is now at its highest in the APAC region, and this project is cited internally as a benchmark for other teams to try and emulate.