Tag Archives: UK

Honouring Andrew Watson’s footballing legacy

The year 2022 will be remembered as a historic one for English football. The beloved Lionesses won their first major tournament in a dramatic Euro Cup final against Germany at Wembley. After 56 years of hurt, Sunday, 31 July 2022, marked the day that football finally came home. As a lifelong Arsenal fan who grew up idolising Ian Wright, I remember feeling immense pride as I watched history being made.

The country came together to celebrate the beautiful game — but for me, as character designer and illustrator, I am fascinated by the stories behind the big moments. So for me, this was a chance to reflect on the sacrifices that players from minority groups have been forced to make in order to play the game that they love. For example, many female players have had to maintain full-time jobs whilst pursuing their football career, often a side effect of sometimes disproportionate funding for the women’s game. And it wasn’t that long ago that players from minority ethnic backgrounds were largely excluded from the sport.

Andrew Watson was a Scottish footballer widely believed to be the first black footballer to play in the Football League and the first player of colour to play in an English Cup match. Born in 1856 in what is now Guyana, Andrew was one of the most influential footballers of his time, captaining Scotland and leading his team to historic victories over England and Wales. Balancing his business entrepreneurship with his football career, he played for both Scotland and England, typically in the full-back position.

When I was asked to create a Doodle dedicated to Andrew’s achievements, it felt like a dream come true. After reading about his incredible life, I decided to not only illustrate his career, but also the trajectory of those who have followed in his path. Coming so soon after the euphoric celebrations of the Lionesses’ victory, it was important to me to capture that connection in the Doodle — to demonstrate that one person’s contribution can spark a positive and lasting chain reaction. This is why I settled on the idea of incorporating other generations into the Doodle, and hence the original sketches depict Andrew himself with a football, proudly watching on as other generations follow in his footsteps.

A rough pencil sketch depicting six figures in a line running and jumping with footballs

My initial idea was to depict this chain reaction in the artwork, with Andrew proudly watching on as new generations play the beautiful game.

A detailed sketch in neutral colours detailing six figures of varying ages and genders playing football

The second sketch captures a greater level of detail and movement.

A colourful and vibrant illustration featuring animated characters playing football in front of a Google logo

The final Doodle introduces character into the concept, and brings Andrew’s story to life.

With the finished product, I wanted to capture the beauty of football: the pace, the excitement, the vibrancy and, most importantly, the fun. Each character has their own experience with the ball, in the same way that each football player has their own unique style and strength.

I feel very proud and humbled to have been chosen to create this Doodle, and sincerely hope that people feel it captures not only Andrew’s legacy, but the legacy of all who follow in his footsteps.

YouTube creators are boosting the UK’s brands and economy

‘Creativity’, ‘diversity’ and ‘the economy’ are becoming increasingly associated with one another. The findings from two landmark studies, launching today at YouTube Festival, demonstrate that they are strongly symbiotic.

We have always known that creators are at the core of YouTube’s success and the latestYouTube Impact report by Oxford Economics on the state of the creator economy, highlights the wider, significant economic impact of YouTube’s creative ecosystem in the UK. A second piece of research, Mirrors and Windows, conducted with MTM, explores identity and media choice in the UK and the role and responsibility of brands in improving authentic representation.

This year I celebrated my 15th year at Google and there are some key themes that have progressed significantly during my time here. The main is the growth in sheer reach – new audiences continue to come to us with 96% of online adults in the UK visiting YouTube at least once a month. As a platform that attracts nearly the whole of the UK to our creative content, it should be no surprise that Oxford Economics found that YouTube’s creative ecosystem contributed over £1.4billion to the UK’s GDP, with 80% of creative entrepreneurs agreeing that YouTube provides an opportunity to create content and earn money that they wouldn’t get from traditional media.

I hear from creators every day about how our open platform has lowered the barrier to entry for creatives from every corner of the UK, and of every background and demographic. Munya Chawawa, who hosted YouTube Festival, is testament to how YouTube has the power to launch life-changing careers and ensure audiences can find content that reflects the diversity of the UK today. The research reinforced these anecdotes, with 79% of Mirrors & Windows respondents saying that they believe YouTube represents a wide range of voices, people and perspectives, a sentiment that was shared by those who identify as LGBTQ+ and those identifying as Asian, Black, Mixed or multiple, or other ethnic groups. Across the UK, from Scotland to Yorkshire to the South West, users also agree that YouTube has the content that people in the UK love.

Image showing Munya Chawawa at the MOBO Awards, 2021

Munya Chawawa at the MOBO Awards, 2021

While we’ve gained a better understanding of the tremendous benefits that YouTube’s creative ecosystem provides to our economy, society, brands and culture, the agencies and advertisers MTM spoke to indicated that they sometimes still have apprehensions about their ability to speak about the issue of diverse representation without misstepping and facing scrutiny. Saying that, as YouTube continues to introduce new ways to support diverse creatives, it is becoming a powerful vehicle for brands on the road to more inclusive campaigns.

When fashion and beauty destination ASOS, were planning to tell young people that their brand is for people of all sizes, races and celebrates self expression, YouTube was there to connect them with a unique opportunity to amplify this message. ASOS’ partnership with MOBO – a global brand dedicated to celebrating and championing Black culture and music – was a good example of how authentic and inclusive marketing equals reach and brand results, with ASOS’ pre-roll ads reaching almost three million people watching the Awards and associated music content on YouTube alone. The partnership, which also included ASOS sponsoring the Awards’ Best Newcomer category, not only demonstrated YouTube’s ability as a driver of cultural moments, but also its ability to bring brands closer to diverse audiences, deliver strong brand metrics, and support the creative development and distribution of representative content.

While we’ve known this for a while, the insights released today demonstrate that there’s an urgent need for cultural fluency – where brands show not just a familiarity with different cultures but an ability to communicate effectively in different contexts and be able to change and adapt as much as our platform and its audiences are.

I am so excited to continue to work with brands to help them thrive on this open and constantly evolving platform, where engaging with creative talent, ideas and audiences means direct investment in the UK economy, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in the creative industry.

Continued investment in measures to help fight financial fraud in the UK

In recent years, scammers continue to deploy new fraudulent practices in order to take advantage of people. According to UK Finance’s latest figures, over £1.3 billion was stolen through fraud in 2021, up from £1.26 billion the year before.

To combat this concerning trend, Google continues to invest in teams, new policies and better enforcement capabilities. In 2021, we blocked or removed 58.9 million financial services bad ads globally to protect the advertising ecosystem.

Today, we are announcing a significant additional measure to protect both consumers and legitimate advertisers in the UK. The Google Ads Financial Products and Services policy will be updated to require that all advertisers be FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) authorised for debt adjusting and debt counselling in order to show debt services advertisements starting from 6 December 2022. Insolvency practitioners, including those licensed by a recognized professional body, will no longer be allowed to advertise for these services. Advertisers must successfully complete the updated verification process by the time enforcement begins on 16 January 2023. The policy update also allows advertisers that are included on the FCA Financial Services Register as ‘exempt professional firms’ or recognised investment exchanges to be verified as UK FCA-authorised advertisers.

Our financial services certification policy, launched initially in 2021, has led to a pronounced decline in reports of ads promoting financial scams, and has subsequently been rolled out across Google platforms in Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, India, Portugal, Brazil, France, Spain and Germany. A problem of this scale needs cross-industry effort, so we are pleased to see other tech companies now commit to introducing similar policies in the UK.

Today’s announcement builds on longstanding and robust financial products and services policies and engagement with industry in order to deliver a safer experience for users, publishers and advertisers.

Further collaborative industry progress to date

In addition to ongoing policy reviews and updates, we continue to adapt and collaborate with industry and government organisations to tackle these evolving tactics by scammers. Last year, Google was the first major technology company to join Stop Scams UK, an industry-led collaboration of responsible businesses from across the banking, telecoms and technology sectors who have come together to develop best practices to stop scams at the source.

We also pledged $5 million in advertising credits to support public awareness campaigns in the UK, helping to ensure that consumers are better informed about how to spot the tactics of scammers both online and offline. We encourage businesses and consumers to refer to industry resources from trusted sources and Google partners including Stop Scams, UK Finance’s ‘Take 5’ campaign and the Advertising Standards Authority to stay up to date with the latest solutions we can all adopt to operate safely online.

Bite-size skills training for Brits short on time

Digital skills are a key part of many jobs and are crucial for helping small businesses grow. But with the hustle of daily life, many of us struggle to find the time to learn valuable new skills that could help with landing a new job, earning more money or growing a business.

That’s why we’ve asked for advice from four people who’ve done this before: presenter and former footballer Ian Wright, entrepreneur and Dragon’s Den investor Steven Bartlett, finance professional turned YouTuber Patricia Bright, and founder of notonthehighstreet.co.uk Holly Tucker. Based on their experiences with switching careers or starting a business by learning a new skill, they’ve helped us create Skills to Go, a free, bitesize digital skills training programme.

Image shows man in front of bus with advice about keeping your CV brief overlaid

You can complete the short training sessions, which range from five to 20 minutes, as and when you have time — while commuting, over a coffee break or in between appointments. Our Skills to Go site suggests relevant topics — including CV writing, changing careers and growing a business online — based on how much time you have to spare.

We’ve built this programme in response to new data from YouGov that reveals that lack of time is the number one barrier stopping people from learning skills that could take their careers and businesses to the next level. And it’s a very real need: in the UK, more than 90% of people are online, yet fewer than half of businesses have a website. Businesses struggle to recruit people with digital skills; the digital skills gap accounts for 30% of unfilled vacancies, and costs the UK economy £63 billion per year.

Our new Skills to Go campaign is just one of the ways that we’re working to help address the nation’s skills shortage. Since launching our first digital skills training programme in Leeds in 2015, we’ve visited more than 500 locations up and down the country, and have provided digital skills training to more than 800,000 people in the UK. We offer individuals and business owners opportunities to, for example, take part in one-to-one mentoring sessions or learn about digital marketing to help them advance their careers or boost their businesses. This year, we’re visiting more than 30 locations, such as Newport and Cambridgeshire, to help people learn new skills and get Britain growing.

Image showing man sitting at a table with advice overlaid about how 66% of shopping is done on mobile, so websites should be built for speed.

Of course, we can’t do this alone. Earlier this year, alongside a number of top UK employers including the BBC, BT Group, Deloitte, John Lewis Partnership and NatWest, we announced our Employer Consortium, which recognises Google Career Certificates when recruiting for much-needed tech roles, providing an accessible path for Brits into high-growth, well-paid tech jobs.

Everyone should have the opportunity to gain digital skills regardless of their location, race, age, gender or education level. That's why we’re supporting Good Things Foundation’s work with 1,500 community organisations across the UK, which supports up to 25,000 people from underrepresented communities to get online and learn essential digital skills.

These are all part of our efforts to make it easier than ever for you to gain new skills, wherever you’re at in your career. So the next time you have a spare five minutes, search ‘Google Skills Training’ to learn from business experts like Stephen, Holly and Patricia and boost your business or career.