Google launched it “Get The Message” RCS campaign online on Tuesday, and it will continue with digital billboards in NYC to compete with Apple.
The pressure campaign will start displayed on more than 500 digital billboards in Manhattan and Brooklyn on August 25. The examples we have today demonstrate ads that are displayed in portrait mode on LinkNYC kiosks, which fit the message thread aspect of the ads. [Note: We were first told that there would also be “static billboards,” but we have since learned that NYC is just a digital campaign that runs through October 6].
Taking note of the blue/green bubble phenomena, Google is focusing on how messaging from an Android device to iPhone results in blurry or low-resolution photographs because of the outdated MMS protocol.
In the bottom-left corner, a green Android head with the words “Help Apple #GetTheMessage” and a link to the Android.com website can be seen. A Chrome Dino QR code is also included.
Google will keep airing digital Get The Message advertisements on YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok that target Apple until NYC goes online. On Instagram and Twitter, it also boasts “celebrity influencers” including Madelaine Petsch, Vanessa Hudgens, and Keke Palmer.
Google wants Apple to adopt Rich Communication Services (RCS) so that texting between iPhone and Android users can make use of reading receipts, typing hints, transmitting over data, higher-resolution video and photos, and improved group chats.
Through messaging, we may keep in touch with our loved ones, make friendships feel personal despite physical distance, and accomplish tasks. Today’s dialogues between iOS and Android users, however, are unnecessarily difficult and tear us apart emotionally. According to Google, any platform that isn’t designed to connect people just doesn’t meet the standard of modern technology and seamless communication that people expect and deserve. This campaign aims to make it crystal apparent to Apple that they should finally join us in implementing the most recent messaging standards, which will give users of iOS and Android the finest texting experience imaginable.
