In India, Laws are changing, new opportunities are springing up, support & knowledge that was previously unavailable or accessible to only a privileged few is now within the grasp of a lot many. Except the ‘lot many’ are often found unaware of what is available to them resulting in further marginalisation.

This is because the Internet continues to be biassed towards people who are proficient in English, which is just 10% of the Indian population of which women are a small fraction. The situation is severely limiting for women, who ironically have, possibly the best chance at undoing generations of gender inequality.

Google's mission is to organize world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. We need to ensure Google Search, which ends up being the gateway for information access through the internet, is seen as an ally which helps them with easy access to information and delivers it.

"Bolne se sab hoga” (when you speak up, things happen) was introduced a couple of years back to drive home the point that with Google voice search, "Bolna" (talking/asking to Google) gets you the information enabling one to do/complete what they set out to do, thus making it a natural starting point "Karna" (doing).

Through the years this "Karna" (doing) evolved and reached a stage where it was not just about enabling an individual, but empowering a collective to achieve and effect bigger shifts in society. For this campaign “Bolna” manifested in the voices of women who otherwise were “muted” by systemic social conditioning and biases which led to very distinct and inferior lived experience from men. The messaging focused on how these biases can be removed through access to the right information, leading to a more equal and better world.

Through various published researches and listening data, we developed an understanding on topics and issues which the youth were deeply involved and related with. Gender inequality consistently emerged as the larger pattern through these specific issues.

While the communication focus revolved around different lived experiences of men and women in India, the audience segment was not just condensed to women but broader as we believe everyone has a role to play in it. However, the focus was on the young(er) demographic, who were more vocal about the inequality.

Through phases the campaign went into steps of

Familiarising the consumer with the possibilities,

Breaking down the barriers against the ‘new’ way of speaking to Google search

Sharpening the spear by focusing more strongly on questions that ought to be asked more often than they are today, for us to have a more just and equal world.

Execution had two core focus-

Product

Hindi is not a keyboard friendly language(takes 3x longer to type). Further, Hindi is spoken in over 48 dialects with countless variations.

We used our advanced ML models to reduce word error rates, making user experience better than ever before.

Campaign

The campaign was meticulously planned and executed across different channels and moments.

Carefully studying negative comments made to some leading women in our society, we converted these comments into powerful search queries challenging gender inequality for outdoors. This was then followed by the anthemic “manjha” film which was released on International women’s day, generating a lot of conversation and brand love.

To continue raising awareness, we roped in influencers to join the conversations. We also released 3 separate films inspiring women to break the prevalent gender stereotypes by seeking the information they need to pursue their dreams

Duration 8 week

Scale 248 Mn+

10% increase in female users on Google Search.

12% growth in voice queries by female users on Google Search.

17% increase in usage of Google Search by female users.

21% growth in queries by female users on Google Search.

True story of empowerment came from the shift in behaviour which the campaign encouraged. Queries which significantly focused on removing the different lived experiences saw incredible growth -

300% rise in searches for help on sexual harassment.

28% growth in females searching for jobs and education.

2.8% incremental lift in users seeking information around Science (knowledge specific questions)

10% incremental lift in Jobs and Education users

15% incremental lift in queries around Jobs and Education

3.5% incremental lift in usage for People and Society

The campaign also received tremendous love and engagement -

Over 527 million views for the campaign video across platforms.

It generated free media worth over $592.3 k