Taking a creative approach to process

Microsoft. Sleep Well + Dream Big

The Ask

Let’s make it simple. For every business there’s two sides. One is the processes that keep you productive and secure. The other is the inspiration that helps you stand out. One is techy, drab and grey - but helps you sleep well. The other is exciting, arty and colourful. It helps you dream big.

Microsoft challenged us to show the world how Microsoft 365 marries these two sides. And to generate leads in the process. Our audience? Small businesses, on one hand, and large enterprises, on the other. Both are short on time. Both inundated with marketing material.

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The Answer

We knew the creative would have to work hard. It would have to sustain a year-long, multi-faceted campaign. Speak to SMBs and enterprises. And cover sub-themes as diverse as being creative and complying with GDPR.

Enter ‘Sleep well + Dream big’. A single-minded concept that captured the promise of a complex solution in four words and dynamic visuals. This was the story we introduced in videos, social media, advertising, at the top of web pages and on the covers of ebooks.

But this was just the start. Microsoft 365 has many roles. And we planned to drill down to more of these over the year, without diluting the overall message of our campaign. With flexibility built in to the creative, we were able to re-invent the campaign time after time. So, content created after six months was as fresh as content created after six days.

Unlocking Creativity – The Brainshaker

During one phase, we focussed on how Microsoft 365 helps you unlock creativity. To develop content about this, we turned to some of the methods we use to generate ideas. Things like ‘6-3-5’, where six people come up with three ideas each in five minutes. Then we realised. These techniques should be the content.

The brainshaker was born.

This digital asset invited people to pick a technique at random or refine their search by number of people and time available. The shaker then served up a way to get to an idea.

The best content marketing is genuinely useful. The brainshaker didn’t just talk about capturing ideas. It showed how to do it. Crucially, it also linked campaign messages neatly to the features of Microsoft 365. For each idea-to-get-an-idea, we showed how Microsoft tools could enhance the process.

Gated Content

At every stage of Sleep well + Dream big, our audience had the chance to explore the topics that interested them most in gated e-books.

These practical hero pieces gave people a fuller picture. And signified the point that the campaign started to turn interest into leads.

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The Results

The campaign:

  • Reached millions through social and paid media.
  • Created thousands of landing page visits.
  • Hit 98% of our target for form registrations just 75% of the way through.
  • Achieved a cost-per-click well below the target.
  • Received tens of thousands of high-quality engagements (HQE).  
  • Produced hundreds of new leads.  

The dream was to achieve sustained success across a campaign made up of many parts.

As Director of Product Management Sally Elliot put it,

“Sleep well + Dream big has created a new benchmark for high quality campaigns at Microsoft UK.”

After that, we slept well.

 

  

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