Matt Landis, a veteran-turned-engineer, dedicated his life to helping others. After serving two tours as an Apache helicopter pilot in Iraq, Matt suffered from a traumatic brain injury and went back to school to become an engineer. Matt was awarded the Google SVA scholarship for his degree and now works at the Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) in Pittsburgh where he is using Android to build groundbreaking assistive technologies to help those with disabilities live more independent lives.

Pittsburgh’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) is the premiere assistive technology lab in the country. Matt Landis was drawn almost instinctively to the community of engineers, interns, students, and researchers led by Dr. Rory Cooper – many of whom live with disabilities or have a military background. HERL became a new headquarters for Matt, defined by a very special kind of service: building groundbreaking assistive technologies for as many people as possible.

We wanted to celebrate Matt’s amazing work at HERL, and draw a throughline that connects his passion for serve across multiple points in his life. We also wanted to celebrate Matt’s story as a shining example to veterans, showing how a life of service does not need to end with the military — it can be an immensely fulfilling, lifelong pursuit.

“Search On” pairs narrative storytelling and real-life users, who are doing incredible things with the help of Google technology. This creates a multi-layered relevance to the brand. First, it elevates and heroes ordinary Google users doing extraordinary things, which provides relatable characters for our audience to identify with and be inspired by. Secondly, it reinforces the value of Google products for aiding everyone in doing more with their time and talents. Lastly, the characters themselves show intimately how their own quest for answers and solutions to big problems reflect the same spirit by which Google was founded.

We launched “Living to Serve” with a global press outreach and an integrated campaign across social, paid media, the google.com homepage, and multiple marketing activations. The 6-minute documentary film lived on YouTube, the about.google stories page, and in various social posts.

We hosted a launch event in partnership with the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, to honor Matt’s work supporting the community’s veterans, refugees, and folks with disabilities. We also coordinated a Day of Service, in partnership with No One Left Behind, a Veteran-focused NGO that Matt helps coordinate. Pittsburgh-based Googlers volunteered their time and energy to prepare back-to-school supplies for refugee and immigrant families in the city,

Matt was also honored on the field of PNC Park at the local Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game, alongside fellow volunteers, veterans, and two new Pittsburgh families brought to the city by No One Left Behind.

“Living to Serve” received an overall reach of 12M people, 1.6M unique editorial page views, strong engagement and advocacy on YouTube- with 7.9M millions views-, 7.0M owned social impressions, & an engagement rate of 35%. It raised awareness for engineering opportunities, served by and serving folks with disabilities. It also reminded veterans that a life of service does not need to end with the military — it can be an immensely fulfilling, lifelong pursuit.