A 2018/19 season-long, multi-channel, multi-phase campaign leveraging Microsoft’s NFL partnership which linked football and the game-specific benefits of the Surface to a wider audience and the product’s beyond football benefits by shining a light on how star player ambassadors use Surface to enhance their personal pursuits and interests.
Territory: USA
Agency: CMD Portland
Objectives
Microsoft as a brand is often considered ‘old’ and ‘uncool’ by younger audiences, while Surface as a product has relatively low un-aided awareness (particularly with millennials), so this NFL activation was part of Microsoft’s wider umbrella objective to elevate brand and product awareness by creating product intrigue, illustrating its diverse uses and to promote the wider cultural relevance of both brand and product.
To leverage its NFL partnership rights around the 2019 Super Bowl, Microsoft set its agency the challenge of developing an initiative which would create new cultural relevance for the Surface and use it to hype the brand.
‘Make Believe Happen’ aimed to highlight Microsoft’s twofold ‘professional-and-personal’ strategy as it builds on the Surface’s on-field football role by shining a light on how the Surface helps NFL players with their off-the-field personal pursuits.
The idea was that, like the Surface itself, NFL players are not one dimensional and the objective was to illustrate how the Surface can help anyone set goals, achieve their dreams and ‘Make Believe Happen’.
Activation
Most NFL fans have seen Microsoft Surface computers being used in stadiums by coaches and players on the sidelines during the games, so the ‘Make Believe Happen’ campaign, which ran from the start of the season in October 2018 to the Super Bowl in February 2019, set out to leverage the brand’s NFL rights beyond the confines of the stadium and the game itself.
The objective was to go beyond the game itself to increase and expand brand relevance.
Background
The original strategy behind Microsoft’s NFL partnership, which in 2019 is in the sixth year of an extended $400m five-year deal, seeks to reinforce the brand’s positioning and values and to shine a specific spotlight on its Surface product.
Initially the partnership was penned in 2013 when the Surface Pro became the league’s ‘official tablet’ and Microsoft became the NFL’s official technology sponsor.
At the core of the NFL/Microsoft partnership is the game-specific technical support that Surface hardware and Microsoft software provides to various aspects of the football.
Indeed, the Surface Pro 9 (with its paired Windows Ink and Surface Pen products) is one of the very few partner brand products to actually appear in-stadium and on-field during NFL games (the league by-and-large operates a ‘clean stadium’ branding policy) and is used by players and coaches in real-time to draft plays, run instant replays, assess player data and inform decision making, while franchise staff also use the tools for organisational data collection and analysis, managing logistics and recording notes off the field.
Plus, the brand designed NFL Experience App aims to get football fans closer to the game through game-, team- and player-related news, scores and updates, plus the ability to pick teams and ac cess fantasy football scores.
To back up Microsoft’s 2017 repositioning of the Surface Pro from its original ‘tablet to replace your laptop’ idea to the ‘world’s most versatile laptop’, it is using its NFL tie-up alongside its other marketing platforms to promote the Surface as a durable and versatile tool adaptable and useful in any context.
The 2019 initiative followed on from 2018’s ‘Create Change’ campaign which focused on NFL players using Surface to promote community-enhancing efforts to impact the lives of regular people.
Microsoft’s subsequent ‘Make Believe Happen’ builds on this by highlighting how the Surface helps make the interests, talents and non-football passions of NFL players happen.
Insight
The campaign strategy followed several months of research and planning as it set out to be sufficiently focused to clearly define the meaning of ‘Make Believe Happen’, but also flexible enough to be able to feature multiple athletes and their passion projects across multiple activation strands.
The campaign also emerged out of research from the NFL Players Association which found that the average career of an NFL player is just over three years, so it is increasingly vital for players to have non-football interests during their playing careers which can help set themselves up for life after they finish playing.
“These days, everyone has a side hustle, even NFL players,” said CMD Group Creative Director John O’Connell.
“These guys know they can’t play football forever. They’re thinking ahead and building careers that will span beyond their time in the NFL.”
Campaign Overview
To meet the brief, agency CMD Portland developed an idea based around following players off the field and into ‘unexpected’ territory in order to showcase how they use the Surface to explore and enhance their non-football personal passions – from photography to fashion.
The idea is that NFL stars, just like everyone else, are just about one single thing and this one introduced with a spearhead spot debuting on 25th October 2018.
The player ambassador examples, which were feature in supporting social spots, ranged from Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald channelling his passion for travel photography into starting a travel agency called Nomad Hill, to New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara’s fascination for fashion and Los Angeles Chargers defensive end Melvin Ingram’s love for music which led to him releasing a rap album.
Fitzgerald use the Surface to file and tweak his photographs and to help run his travel business.
Kamara’s interest in fashion sees him use the Surface to pull up a variety of designs and colour swatches and use the device to draw clothes designs, while fellow running back and LA Rams star Todd Gurley also uses Surface to design casual wear and formal wear ranges.
Ingram, alongside fellow players Chad Thomas (Cleveland Browns) and Cole Beasley (Dallas Cowboys), uses Surface and Surface Studio to produce music.
Other players featured in the campaign include Brian Orakpo and Michael Griffin (both of the Tennessee Titans) use the Surface to design cupcakes, videos and marketing promotions for their Cup Cake shop.
Roll Out
The campaign was spearheaded by a three-pronged approach: social media, at Super Bowl experiential and out-of-home.
Social Media
This strand set out to ‘engage and ignite NFL fans through Instagram Stories, in-feed ads, and behind-the-scenes content featuring NFL players which aimed to drive fan awareness of the campaign and to get them involved.
One incentivised participation example of this phase saw LA Rams running back Todd Gurley propose a fan challenge: design clothing with a custom online app for a chance to win tickets to Super Bowl LII.
Want to go to the #SuperBowl? Show off your skills by designing a look for @TG3II for a chance to win a trip to Super Bowl LIII. Ends 1/21/19. Rules: https://t.co/H7HhDAakIT pic.twitter.com/lTBh85h8Sa
— Microsoft Surface (@surface) January 15, 2019
Experiential
The second strand saw a multifaceted programme of brand activation during Super Bowl week in Atlanta which aimed to allow fans (and invited celebrities, influencers and some former and current NFL stars) to engage in a series of unique experiences – spanning art, fashion and music – through the use of the Microsoft Surface.
This series of events aimed to give football fans an opportunity to explore the non–football passions of some of their favourite athletes, to be creative in themselves and to showcase their own individual ability to Make Believe Happen.
As the Official Laptop of the NFL, #Surface is in Atlanta prepping for all the action at #SuperBowlLIII. Come back all week for more from the big game. pic.twitter.com/WZUMl7bhRr
— Microsoft Surface (@surface) January 30, 2019
We hosted a star-studded yet intimate music event at the #MicrosoftLounge at #SBLIII with @djhapa mixing on #SurfaceStudio and @6LACK put on an #AnythingButOrdinary performance. Check out more from the night! #MakeBelieveHappen pic.twitter.com/aeHncHg9OW
— Microsoft Surface (@surface) February 2, 2019
Outdoor
The third strand revolved around outdoor advertising which set out to capture the spirit of Make Believe Happen through digital signage. This saw two flagship, high footfall and vibrant locations – the LA LIVE Entertainment Centre in downtown Los Angeles and the iconic Microsoft Cube in Times Square – used for digital displays conveying the campaign message of creativity and individuality.
The campaign was created for Microsoft by a team from agency CMD Group led by Group Executive Creative Director John O’Connell, Associate Creative Director & Senior Writer Andy Cale, Writer Aaron Robnet, Art Director Jack Johnson, Editor David Wester, Motion Designer Matt Allen, Group Account Director Randy Woloshin and Agency Producer Katy Rall.
Outcome / Results
The campaign won several leading global advertising awards including a 2019 Clio Sports Silver.
In terms of success metrics, the campaign generated:
> 15.1M video views
> 157.6M social impressions
> 2.6M digital/social engagements
> 2.1B total potential earned media reach
> 284,000 DialStyle users, and 3.,200 qualified contest entrants
> 3,680 Make Hustle Happen workshops nationwide – with 35,000 participants
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