Google & Uncommon: ‘What are you searching for this summer?’

Google and Uncommon have launched their first creative project together.

With lockdown restrictions easing in the UK, ‘What are you Searching for this Summer?’ tells a story of freedom and the role Google plays in your every achievement — from the everyday to the epic. 

Summer 2021 represents a powerful moment of both collective and individual liberation as we venture into the warmth of sunnier months and restrictions lifting in the UK. But with that freedom comes many questions and mixed emotions in which this uniquely strange summer triggers — from re-entry anxiety, through to rebuilding relationships to loss and love.

This new project from Google, created by Uncommon, unearths these questions at the forefront of 68 million people that make-up the UK, as Google search helps reacquaint us with the world and each other as we start this most epic of summers.

The new work launches with a film driving emotion back into the brand’s most powerful feature: Google Search. The film centres around the power and act of search in our daily lives. The 2-minute piece focuses on how the questions unconsciously tapped into the search bar can represent our hopes and dreams for the summer ahead.

The film hinges on the poetic realisation that we are all searching for something.

The story starts with the gift of freedom and the possibility of new adventures this summer, as the UK opens up again. Reflecting truthfully how not everyone feels excited, capturing feelings of anxiety that have been caused by prolonged separation. We see confessional searches for “how to talk to people” and “what is reopening anxiety.”

The ad continues to move through different search queries with one section focusing on football ahead of the 2021 Euros — set to take place once again on British soil. But society and football itself have moved on since 1996, the last time we saw the tournament here. The film reflects this point with inclusive imagery of people enjoying the beautiful game including England’s Euros manager, Gareth Southgate, coaching a Birmingham-based senior walking men’s football team.

As lockdown lifts many relationships will start again with renewed focus. Google can help us understand each other better. We see fathers make confessional searches — keen to start improving their relationships with their kids. We also take a poignant and very personal moment to remember those we’ve lost.

The film then switches to touching, uplifting searches around human contact asking when we can hug, kiss and date again — a reflection many can relate to having been away from loved ones for so long. Just like the dating scene — weddings have been largely on pause for over a year. The film takes a moment to celebrate these joyous occasions.

The work ends with hedonism and hope. We see people question when we can go ‘out out’ and party again, culminating in a sunrise request.