If you have watched TV this month, especially the first few rounds of the MLB playoffs, you are probably familiar with this ad for the Nexus 7 tablet. While the ad campaign began this summer with a longer spot, it has been during the fall that the campaign really began to take root influencing search behavior.
Using the wonderful Google Trends tool, it’s easy to take a quick look back in time to get a perspective on how successful the ad has been. I don’t know about you, but I did not know the term glossophobia before seeing the ad. Thankfully for the star of the promo, he happened to know the term that described his affliction but not necessarily what it meant. Or he just enjoyed hearing the definition again.
Regardless, glossophobia existed as something of an online footnote over the last several years.
However, the results really picked up in September and October. For anecdotal reference, there were ten MLB playoff games aired from October 3 to October 6, where the glossophobia search reached its peak.
Will the ad campaign translate into sales? Maybe. The Nexus 7 is a nice tablet in my experience. At the very, Google has funded an educational campaign that taught people that glossophobia is the fear of speaking in public.