“On My Way,” Microsoft’s new global branding campaign, has started with viral videos shot in four countries that document the way Microsoft helps young people develop their careers through the training programs it runs. The videos were created by McCann Worldgroup and produced by Chelsea, bicoastal.
In “Natalie,” a 90 second film, a young woman from the U.K. explains how the Microsoft Learning Center helped her start a fashion business “and make my dream become a reality.” Natalie is shown singing in a recording studio and then sewing dresses in her shop as she discusses the impact Microsoft has made on her life.
“Testing revealed that what was impactful was when we see real people’s stories and how Microsoft helped them,” said Matthew Winks, VP/executive producer at McCann. “We made the decision to go in the documentary direction, with films about people and their potential and how Microsoft helps them in crucial moments of their lives with free classes and access to technology.”
Films were shot in the U.K., Germany, France and Australia in August and September, with the subjects found by contacting the Microsoft programs in each country. “Microsoft got us in touch with them and we did street casting among the kids and chose the ones with the most compelling stories,” said Allison Amon, an executive producer at Chelsea.
A series of films were made in each country, with footage from each shoot combined to make five-minute documentaries, which were cut into individual profiles that run 30 and 90 seconds. “If it was visually compelling enough, we made it into a short piece,” said director Chris Wilcha of Chelsea. “In Berlin, a skateboarder navigating through the city created a nice metaphor for forward motion. We deployed it in the documentary and in quick :30 form. It had a nice abstract quality. We were always balancing both, knowing it could be short form or long form.”
Wilcha shot the films with a Panasonic VariCam, “live action documentary style, not hand held. It was reality style, more composed.”
Wilcha interviewed the subjects as he shot them, trying to get them to be “philosophical about their futures.” It wasn’t easy, since they didn’t always speak English. “We tried it with a translator sitting with me in another room with an ear piece in my ear. It wasn’t easy getting an intimate conversation going with a translator.”
But the result is an extensive campaign that is playing the films online and TV across Europe and in Australia. The films play at individual sites in each of the four countries and at a general site for Europe, http://www.onmywayeu.com. The campaign isn’t running in the U.S. yet, but Winks said, “We’ll shoot more work for other countries.”
The campaign doesn’t focus on Microsoft products. “They sell lots of products–this is bigger than that,” Winks said. “It’s part of their corporate citizenship campaign.”
A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly
U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.
The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.
Here's what it all means:
What is the Justice Department's goal?
Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.
"The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."
Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."
It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More