To anyone who missed it, with thanks to Lee Morris, a standout Cloud Account Manager in Austin, here’s Google’s new commercial honoring Black excellence, “The Most Searched: A Celebration of Black History Makers”, click here to watch.
Warmly received on its debut during the 62nd Grammy Awards, it's the centerpiece of Google’s salute to Black History Month and celebrates “the Black history makers who’ve helped shape and influence American culture.”
Using Google Trends, which the company began compiling in 2004, the spot employs search data to weave a dramatic tapestry of twenty-four historic and moving African American heroes, heroines, and milestones, including Maya Angelou, Kendrick Lamar, Malcom X, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Accompanying the commercial, Google also announced a $3MM grant to fund the NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO). ACT-SO provides Black youth a venue to pitch their ideas to mentors with the opportunity to secure scholarship funding for their projects.
The commercial closes with, “To the history makers and those they inspire, search on.” It's a remarkably simple and powerful premise that provides extraordinary advertising.
Finally, because I can't resist, here is Whitney Houston's remarkable rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" performed with the Florida Orchestra in Tampa at the all New York Super Bowl XXV in 1991. As so many others have so eloquently said before, "Just. Listen. To. That. Voice." click here to watch.