Role: EP, D, W and Ed
The Ask: Create a compelling storyline and supporting creative for hands-on technical, training experiences that challenges the traditional Microsoft event format expectations.
My Role: Project Lead, Creative Director, Co-Copywriter, Video Producer/Director/Editor.
I led a team of technical subject matter experts, art directors, design and illustration artists, UX/UI designers, digital strategists, social media planners and integrated marketing and communication coordinators.
The Challenges: I joined the project on my first day at the agency. Picked up my work laptop and flew to Redmond that day. I didn’t know the client. Didn’t 100% know my role. I didn’t even know the members of my team. I was told the brief was confusing and convoluted. With a mandate to include a physical, mysterious “lock box.” I spent the entire flight reading and re-reading the brief.
The list of deliverables included landing pages, demand generation, on site creative and video assets. And the use of the “lock box” in multiple, international locations. I convinced the client the “lock box” was logistically impractical and a creative roadblock. They acquiesced. Freed to think outside of the literal physical box, we went to work developing a narrative that appealed to the puzzle solving and gaming nature of the audience.
The Results: We created an entire fictional space agency and a mission that went awry and needed to be rescued by the audience. The training sessions blended sci-fi narrative, UX, and multi-channel branding into an immersive digital and in-room training ecosystem that engaged 500,000+ developers across 30+ countries. The percentage of attendees who would recommend Microsoft services dramatically increased from previous years. Even NASA took notice and requested their own special training session at the Johnson Space in Houston.
The teaser trailer
Initial brainstorm in Redmond
Initial brainstorm in Redmond
Event asset planning
First draft ideas presented to client
Possible naming conventions
Describing the fictional space organizatoin hierarchy
