Microsoft Windows: AN IDEA CALLED EXPERIENCE

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: MICROSOFT
Agency: LODESTAR UM
Category: Best Use of Integrated Media
COO: Anamika Mehta (Lodestar UM)
General Manager: Dhruv Jha (Lodestar UM)
Media Supervisor: Rajneesh Singh (Lodestar UM)
Media Director: Nirupam Lahiri (Lodestar UM)
Vice President: Anindya Ray (Lodestar UM)
CEO: Ambika Sharma (Pulp Strategy)
Director/Digital Strategy: Debarshi Chakravorti (Reprise Media)
Media Supervisor: Nitin Pal (Lodestar UM)

Strategy
With rapid advances in technology Microsoft as a company has been repositioned – Apple with exciting products, Google with Search ownership and Samsung with its smartphones. Routine updates have made it suffer on two parameters - relevancy and un-differentiated products. The brand is distant from the consumer. 2012 offered an opportunity to address this with a series of new offerings- launch of Windows 8, new avatar of Office and a Cloud application based on Windows Server–we could talk product innovation like never before to become more relevant and ‘for me’.The media challenge was to grasp this and present it in an exciting way to break through consumer fatigue in an always innovating category of technology. Opinion leaders and Influencers needed to feel Microsoft first hand. In a country with low broadband or organized retail, we needed media to create experiential engagement that made new product innovations easily understandable.

Effectiveness
India got the maximum campaign impact score compared to the the world (+24 points) with campaign recognition hovering in the high 90's consistently. The virtual Business Calculator saw more than 25,000 widget downloads with an average 20 min/download spent on the actual usage of the calculator.The Cloud on wheels went about telling 10,000 stories to 200,000 IT professional making it the most successful experiential engagement on any technology platform. There were a million + conversations on Social media platforms, all talking about the innovations helping to build a strong relationship with Microsoft.

Execution
Simple seamless experiences crafted across touch-points to ensure that the Microsoft story reached the audience. Windows 8 unveiled on national prime time on leading English news channel through a never before product showcase. Features and their usage was showcased, form factors profiled, live engagement through Q&A via Twitter with tech opinion leaders. AR enabled print ads on the largest read English daily built familiarity with features after reading about them. Quasi experiences without actually touching a product!Further engagement through a unique business calculator unveiled on the Budget day. An easy experience of MS Excel enabled calculation of financial impact of the Budget for a business bringing alive the relevance of Microsoft.Live demo experiences crafted across 20 cities. A mall activation program engaged through a blockbuster movie. A unique bus journey simplified Cloud computing through professionals experiencing technology via augmented reality videos, case studies and live demos bringing Microsoft closer.