Fastball
- Brand
- Google Chrome
- Year
- 2010
- Objective
- Product Launch
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Google Creative Lab
- With
- Feels Like
- With
- BBH New York
Objective
Google needed to sell speed to people who tune out banner ads, so instead of telling them Chrome was fast, the campaign let them feel it — turning browser speed into the pace of a game and doubling as a showcase for the new Flash-enabled Chrome build.
Solution
The game opens right inside a YouTube video: a chrome ball rolls down a giant handmade obstacle course of mousetraps, tape, rebar, and rubber bands. Whenever the ball stalls, a challenge pops up over the footage — plot a route in Google Maps, look something up in Google Search, get through a phrase in Google Translate, fire off a tweet, or track down an artist on Last.fm. Solve it fast and the ball rolls on to the next rigged-up section; stall too long and it stays stuck. The run ends at the finish line with a completion time to compare against other players, all without leaving the YouTube page.
Results
Over 1 million people played, moving the ball through the linked YouTube videos in more than 1 million completed games; the campaign is credited with helping make Chrome the world's second most popular web browser.
- 1
The player opens Chrome's branded YouTube channel and is invited to prove they are "Chrome Fast" by starting the race.
- 2
A video begins showing a giant handmade Rube Goldberg-style obstacle course, and a chrome ball rolls along the track.
- 3
When the ball gets stuck, the video pauses and a timed challenge appears on top of it; the player must solve it quickly for the ball to keep moving.
- 4
The challenges send the player to real web services: plotting a route on Google Maps, posting through a shared Twitter account tied to the game, finding an artist on Last.fm, and completing tasks on Google Search and Google Translate.
- 5
This cycle of video segment, stall, and challenge repeats across six stitched-together YouTube videos as the ball advances toward the finish.
- 6
Crossing the finish line records the player's completion time, which players compare against each other.
