Premium badges were YouTube’s first foray into driving emotional value for users on the platform. The goal was to create a gamified rewards system that celebrated members for their engagement with various Premium features.
I wrote all of the content and led the content strategy for this project. Initially, the badges were scoped to be named eponymously for their respective features (e.g., “Downloads Level 1,” but I suggested a new approach rooted in storytelling. My goal was to provide more value to users by making the content more personalized and engaging—I wanted users to WANT to share their badges on social media and keep coming back to earn more badges. I did this by creating unique names and descriptions for each badge, focusing on a lighthearted and playful tone for the content. I aimed to highlight a story of a persona that aligned with each badge, from the user who is always prepared with backup downloads in case they lose WiFi to the music enthusiast who takes advantage of YouTube Music’s exclusive events to meet their favorite artists.
This project was not without its challenges, and getting it launched involved working with—and getting buy-in from—numerous stakeholders across the product team, localization team, digital wellbeing team, and legal.