Context

I’ve been lucky enough to be able to partner with a small video production company (Bond Studio) to provide freelance creative direction and film direction work since July of 2022. In October of 2022, Bond Studio received a request for a pitch for a video focused on showcasing Google newest addition to the Cambridge community: a sustainable, high-tech building created for community usage.

In terms of idea and thought-process, a typical corporate-esque video didn’t seem very appealing or authentic enough to really capture Google’s mission of connecting to the hearts of the community. Those videos tend to live nicely on a website.

You know what I’m talking about: the typical “talking head” stuff—someone in a nice suit explaining how they’re doing so much good to the community. They walk around a lobby, some nice tall windows, they shake hands with colleagues, there are inserts of some explainer motion graphic animations, etc. There’s nothing inherently wrong about these types of videos—they serve a specific purpose—but they don’t take very long to disappear from the mind after being posted. They’re nice, but if the point is to actually connect to the public, then there needs to be a better, more engaging way to go about it.

So instead, I went for a different creative approach: we pitch Cambridge (the community) as the hero. They’re the ones doing the hard work. They’re going out and getting at it. They’re the center of the narrative, commercial-like film and Google’s efforts are just the sprinkles on the cake—having the community’s back as a legitimate, genuine, philanthropic company. Pitching Google as a friendly neighbor further aids in the idea that “Google” could also mean "community” too.