Everyone uses a web browser, but no one really cares which one they're using. We needed to give people a reason to consider why their browser matters and how they can use it to to better their lives. We wanted to make people feel empowered to enhance their everyday life, their work, and the things they care about with the web and Google Chrome on their side. 'The web is what you make of it' campaign positioned Chrome as a catalyst for anybody to make the most of life, showing the power of the web in a human and inspiring way. Through film, we told stories of how real people are using the web and through digital, we demonstrated ways for people to take action on the web.

Chrome's "The web is what you make of it" campaign launched Google's biggest offline campaign to date. To get a mass audience talking about their web browser, we premièred Google's first national TV work on primetime national television and on Chrome's YouTube channel. Online, rich media mastheads on the New York Times brought the stories to life, and 40k banners helped drive conversion to download Chrome. Shortly after the initial launch, Lady Gaga's fan activation and TV spot followed up and debuted on the season finale of SNL. The campaign continued with additional web films, TV spots, banners, Chrome themes and a series of instructional web video demos showing people new ways to make the most of the web with Chrome.

In 2011, our campaign played a major role in what was an incredible year for Chrome. The campaign launch drove an 18% increase in search volume around “Chrome” (Google Insights for Search), while aided awareness of the brand increased 140% (YouGov, March-August). Web banners have posted an overall CTR of .31% to date (industry benchmark: .1%), and our films are still popular with over 20 million views and counting on YouTube. But most importantly, while competitors saw stagnating or decreasing growth in 2011, Chrome usage increased 17.8% (May-August), and is poised today to become the world’s #1 browser