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Google ramps up marketing for Duo with some seriously adorable ads


For a company that earns most of its revenue through advertising, Google has been criticized for not marketing its own products as much as it should. It’s quite possibly why the company is taking an “Apple-like direction” for its Nexus phones. Still, when the company does produce ads, they almost always tug at your heart strings.

Google uploaded a slew of ads for its new video messaging app, Duo, overnight on its YouTube channel — they’re all heart-warming and adorable, and do a great job of showcasing the app’s purpose. The app recently hit 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, though it has fallen quite far down the top charts.

The videos feature real-life doodles on every day objects, like salt and pepper shakers, socks, and peanut butter and jelly. These objects use Duo to video chat with their counterparts and have anthropomorphic conversations — they’re seriously cute, and you should definitely check them out.

It’s unclear if these ads will air on TV, but we have reached out to Google for confirmation.

Google’s last marketing campaign was a hit. The search giant put Android front and center, and launched the “Be together. Not the same” slogan to unite and highlight the differences between Android smartphones. One particular ad featured animals making unlikely friendships — including an orangutan and a dog, a bear and a tiger, and more.

That “Friends Furever” video became the most shared advertisement of 2015, hitting 6.4 million shares at the time. These anthropomorphic objects aren’t cute animals, but can they make a similar impression? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Julian Chokkattu
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…
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