Searching Black-Owned Businesses
Brand Studio
THE CHALLENGE
In 2020, 41% of US black-owned businesses closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more than any other racial group in America. Google Trends showed that searches for ‘Black-owned’ skyrocketed by 600% – but there was no simple way to find them. Google needed small businesses to identify themselves on Google Maps, while showing people how to search for and support businesses in new ways.
THE IDEA
Encourage people to search for black-owned businesses by telling the stories of businesses that had been transformed by support in their local communities. We launched the campaign on Black History Month highlighting real businesses and featuring Black influencers who shared their favorite hometown spots.
THE RESULTS
In the year after launch over 86,000 businesses have identified as Black-owned and the campaign drove growth around key brand relevance metrics. In addition the project influenced the way Google helps businesses identify themselves to consumers, creating more opportunities for people to find and support the businesses they care about in their own community
MY ROLE
I connected the product teams building identity markers that allowed business owners to identify themselves, the data teams that saw how people were searching to support businesses near them, and internal marketing and creative teams to build out a pitch deck that brought the opportunity to life in a simple and compelling way. We used that pitch to advance product roadmaps and drive urgency around launching communications in the moment. After the campaign launched I helped evolve the platform into an ongoing strategy to support identity specific businesses around the cultural moments that mattered most to their communities.