The representation of the covid-19 pandemic in google doodles

Abstract

This paper studies the Doodles on the homepage of the Google search platform as an example of experiential marketing. Specifically, it focuses on the Doodles published during the confinement by covid-19 referring to the pandemic. The goal is to show how Google with this strategy recovers the three traditional functions of mass media: to train, to inform and to entertain. A qualitative study has been carried out through a tool for evaluating and measuring branded experiential communications using digital media designed from the Schmitt Experiential Matrix. The method combines the observation and systematization of the Experiential Modules and the examination of the Expros or different Experience Providers that are used to shape each experiential action. In the case of the Doodles, there are eight of them: images, texts, animations, sounds, interaction tools, sharing tools, and information exchange or collective production tools.  The results show a strategy focused on two directions: to raise awareness and to show recognition to particular sectors of the population. Despite simplifying the intensity of the Doodles' sensory stimulation with respect to other times, they can be considered an experience where feelings, sensations, thoughts and performances are shared with the audience, and that it is also done in a pedagogical, playful and emotional way.