With rampant misinformation on social media driving vaccine hesitancy in Indonesia, Google Search partnered with trusted public health organizations and used data to create the first-ever Google reviews of the COVID-19 vaccine. The effort resulted in a lift in brand trust and, more importantly, a higher vaccination rate among Indonesian people.
Objective:
In Indonesia, misinformation on social media and chats had created feelings of mistrust and fear around COVID-19 vaccines, leading to increasing vaccine hesitancy. To counter misinformation, Google Search wanted to give people easy access to verified information, establish itself as the trusted platform to seek vaccine-related facts, and ultimately increase vaccination rates in the Asian-Pacific nation. To achieve this goal, the search engine partnered with the Indonesia's Ministry of Health to ensure it was using verified information.
Target Audience:
Google asked segmented groups about their vaccine concerns and found there was a fear of the unknown that was manifesting because of both the potential negative side-effects of vaccines and the perceived "experimental" nature of the COVID-19 vaccine in particular. However, it would be too simplistic to suggest everyone's fear and vaccine hesitancy looked the same. As such, Google examined the point of view of various demographics to better understand the complexity of the issue, including:
These groups showed some of the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy, so Google examined each of their perspectives and determined how it could best influence their decision making.
Creative Strategy:
When in doubt, people often rely on Google Search peer reviews before making a decision. Google knew this was the ideal behavior to leverage and convince skeptics to take the vaccine. Using a wealth of data, Google mapped trending vaccine fears against credible first-hand stories of users who took the vaccine to create the first-ever reviews of the COVID-19 vaccine. These frank but compelling reviews, sourced from the major demographics being targeted, were delivered contextually across audiences to ensure the right messages hit the right people.
Context:
Google worked with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) from doctors to ministers and more, who advocated looking up verified information. To ensure the facts were factual and up to date, Google worked closely with the Ministry of Health to set up the resources pages for users on both Google and YouTube.
Overall Campaign Execution:
The resulting campaign featured the first-ever reviews of the COVID-19 vaccine. Under the review sections, each demographic was targeted in a way that would assuage their fear:
To serve the creative contextually, the media spend was slightly skewed towards YouTube versus terrestrial TV, though both were leveraged.
The media plan was highly focused on paid, with support also coming from social, Google Search HPP, and in-app promotions. Additionally, Google Search started serving a OneBox with Get the Facts, which had verified medical information. Users were also led to a resource page that was developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.
Google Search data saw a shift, with a reduction in misinformation and an 8.6 percent increase in positive perception of vaccination. Vaccination rates in Indonesia saw a dramatic increase during the campaign's duration. With a campaign reach of 260 million across four months of digital and TV, the effort also led to a lift in Google's brand trustworthiness, with a 5 percent increase across Indonesia.
Reviews of Hope proved to move the needle, not only in shifting brand opinions, but in driving key actionable results — positive vaccination perception and convincing Indonesians to get vaccinated in large numbers.
The campaign also:
