Microsoft launched an integrated campaign June 15 to support the launch of business productivity suite Microsoft Office 2010.
The campaign, created with agency JWT New York, includes a microsite, online video, rich media, banner ads, social media, search and e-mail.
Microsoft’s goal is to educate consumers on how to use the product, which was released to the general public June 15. The company conceptualized the campaign after talking to customers who tested the product in beta, said Gayle Troberman, chief creative officer for the central marketing group at Microsoft.
The campaign creative features real consumers using Microsoft products and sharing them with friends.
“The idea is to show real people who are using the product, because nothing is more believable,” she said. “We want people to share, just like it happens in a non-marketing landscape, like when a mom shares a document with another PTA mom and her friend says, ‘Wow, how did you do that?’”
Microsoft designed Office 2010 to enable consumers to easily share documents in real time, said Troberman, who identified the need for document-sharing as a major change in the consumer landscape.
Troberman would not disclose the campaign’s budget, but she said the spend was heavily invested in digital marketing.
“We believe video is a great way to show the power of the product,” she said. “We love the digital medium because it gets you to see the product on the PC, and seeing is very much believing.”
The campaign is scheduled to run for a year, including increased pushes during popular computer-shopping seasons, “because people tend to buy software when they buy a new PC,” Troberman said. These periods include back-to-school, Father’s Day, graduation season and Christmas.
