Major product launches can mean big-budget video ads. There’s fancy locations, big-name actors, special effects, the works. But Google’s hype ad to launch its new phone is…different.
The ad begins with Google’s familiar search box with its blinking cursor. Nothing happens for a bit, but then the search bar starts becoming bloated. This happens over the next 10 seconds or so, and then it hits you – it’s become the shape of a phone. Nothing is said, other than a Google logo at the end.
The animation, if you can call it that, consists entirely of a rectangle turning vertical. If you turned this in for your school project, you’d be dealing with a very cross teacher. If you put this on a resume for a job in animation, you’d be laughed out of the room.
But it works. The animation might be simple, but it captures the central idea behind the phone like nothing else. The search bar is quintessentially Google. And it’s turning into a phone. It’s a phone with all of Google’s awesomeness. It’s as simple as that.
Less, sometimes, can most definitely be more.