CONTEXT

Post-COVID, Microsoft had seen two years of digital transformation in two months. The company was at an inflection point. It had recently closed down all of its physical stores, and social media was evolving the nature of commerce. The challenge with Microsoft is that they have remained relevant through sheer size and scale. They might have dominated the PC era, but the PC became an accessory to the smartphone. 

APPROACH

Our approach was to be radically honest, position Microsoft for this paradigm shift, and have the company embrace its role as a category leader in technology and culture. After all, this is a company that is:

1. Run by one of the most incredible CEOs in tech, Satya Nadella, who led a remarkable transition to enterprise cloud services, moved toward open source, joined the Linux Foundation, acquired Github, and invested in OpenAI. 
2. More valuable than Google or Apple on a good trading day. 
3. Whose users are quietly the most influential people in the world.
4. Their products are used by 95% of the S&P 500.
5. Has the most resilient, anti-fragile, and diversified revenue streams of the tech giants. 

SYNTHESIS

Shifted Microsoft's strategic focus towards a video-first creative strategy. 

• Provided a custom GM research report through our case study model and ethnographic study. 
• Designed a content strategy that Microsoft can add cultural value to while driving the economic engine of the organization.
• Emphasized the importance of frictionless entertainment-commerce integration, drawing inspiration from the Chinese retail landscape and the rise of instantly shop-able commercials. 
• Recommended working with individual creators for organic content collaborations and partnerships on TikTok which have resulted in a seamless 'Click to Purchase' experience on social videos, transitioning Microsoft's presence on social platforms into both cultural and commerce platforms.
• Stressed the importance of setting up network and community-driven brand systems that create a feedback loop of data and intelligence, enabling Microsoft to create better content, products, and experiences for their customers, ultimately making them more competitive in the rapidly evolving retail environment.
• Developed a systematic, repeatable learnings, measurement, and retention framework that incorporates showcasing craftsmanship, tutorials, product tests, and more, in order to adapt to the video-centric future of online retail, where every retailer will rely on video over traditional photo-based listings.

WORK

• With our creative agency partner Deutsch, we conducted 13x stakeholder meetings across the organization (Marketing, XBOX, Product, PR, Creative, Digital Customer Experience, Social, Site Merchandising, SMB, Virtual, Support, Workshops & Training).
• Cultural Ethnography and Digital Ethnography
• Competitive Audit & Gap Analysis
• Creative + Production Discovery & Optimizations
• Data + Analytics Discovery & Optimizations
• UX Discovery & Optimizations
• Learnings Integration Roadmap
• Organizational Audit & Recommendations

RESULTS 

• 2M Followers on Microsoft's Windows TikTok Account
• 25M views on every video mentioning Microsoft