Android #andproud allowed people everywhere to be involved in Pride like never before; creating personal rainbow-ready Androids to join a global parade and appear on custom floats in London NY and SFO. Crucially, our characters didn’t require real names or likenesses, so individuals could join in but remain anonymous to ensure their safety where homoexuality is illegal, or if they wanted to participate without broadcasting their name. Using these Pride Androids, we launched a 60” online film featuring a cast of celebrities from Kylie to Sir Ian McKellan, a promoted social campaign using #andproud, and DOOH in key Pride locations. Best of all, our custom floats featuring digital screens were prominent at the parades in London, NY and San Francisco where we shared some of the 200,000 Androids that were created around the world, connecting global web users to the physical parades, uniting the global LGBT community.

Android #andproud started as a social campaign in 2015 which allowed people to make their very own Pride-parade ready Android character of themselves, choosing bespoke clothes and accessories from a specially designed Gay Pride wardrobe. This campaign featured a 60” online film celebrating the online parade, starring Android versions of a vast cast of celebrities from Kylie and Sir Ian McKellan to Jesse J and YouTube’s hotest global stars. But the online parade was only a part of it, because our Pride Androids didn’t just march across the web but featured live in the physical Pride parades in London, New York and San Francisco too. We wanted to connect the web to the physical parades, uniting the global LGBT community, and our custom floats where we shared some of the 150,000 Androids that were created around the world allowed us to do this.

150,000 celebratory Androids were created from 176 countries. Including over 75 where anti-homosexuality laws exist, and five where homosexuality carries the death penalty. The campaign had 810 million earned impressions across social media, trending globally on Twitter on the day. Celebrities loved our campaign so much that dozens asked us to create their own Android characters without a fee exchanged.

Campaign sentiment was 90% positive. Brand sentiment was 74% positive (usually 65%-70%). There was a 200% increase for Androidify searches and 542% increase for clicks. Exposure to the activity drove a 7.5% relative lift in favourability, plus a lift in ad recall on desktop (17%), tablet (9%) and a 50.5% relative lift in brand keyword search for “Android” for those exposed to the YouTube video.

#andproud built brand love for Android helping build to towards Google’s overarching objective of making a positive contribution to UK culture and society.