CLIENT: Google

Google City Experts Events

Bringing together Washington DC’s Google City Experts to celebrate businesses, create a strong sense of community and drive adoption of the Google+ business review program.

BACKGROUND

Google launched a program called Google City Experts to encourage high-quality local business ratings and reviews on Google+.  The goal of the Google City Experts program was to reward users who had left at least 50 reviews to date, and who produced at least five new reviews each month.

Those who met these guidelines were provided with perks, like exclusive access to local events, “custom swag” (meaning free, Google-branded items), and “special online recognition.”

Goal

BRAVO! was hired to create and manage the local events to reward and inspire the community of people who participated in the Google City Experts program. The idea was to introduce members of the program to local vendors and give them an incredible experience with venues and restaurants in the city. The events served as a tool to drive adoption and habitual use of writing Google+ reviews.

It was important to create a strong sense of community within the Google City Experts members as the kick-off event would be the first time they would be together and they’d be invited to quarterly events throughout the year. The more the group socialized, the better chance they would stay interested in participating in the program. 

Ultimately the events would create a buzz and attendees would tell their friends and invite them to participate in the program as well because of the incentives of actively participating in it. 

Planning

BRAVO!’s mission was to design and produce unique and engaging live experiences by incorporating the best spots in Washington, DC. 

The planning process involved vetting local vendors and creating a mix of experiences inside a unique venue. The experiences included fun activities such as a local craft beer tasting paired with a blue crab feast in a mesmerizing local art gallery. Each live experience had its own theme and correlated to the time of year. 

The event, Learn All About It, was an awareness event that was open to the public to educate attendees on how to participate in the Google City Experts program which was hosted at the Washington DC Google office. 

BRAVO produced four Google City Expert Events and one awareness event for the program.

  1. Summer Feast. Fathom Gallery. 150 Guests
  2. Meat n’ Greet. Hill Country BBQ. 150 Guests
  3. Joyeux Fetes. Malmaison. 200 Guests
  4. Suddenly Spring. Long View Gallery. 500 Guests
  5. Learn All About It. Google Offices. 200 Guests

Impact

BRAVO! created a series of events that were high energy, interactive and brand focused which proved to be the most sought after experiences within the City Experts program across the country.  

The events were well marketed and shared across the Google community with over 500 attendees culminating in the last event BRAVO! produced that year with over 125% the attendance rate from the first one!  A true community was created for the participants of the program that enjoyed the experiences and being with each other.

The Washington DC market saw an increase in Google+ reviews and number of new Google City Experts who joined the program daily!  Conversion rates exceeded expectations for the Google City Experts program managers.