2010 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

2009 was an economically challenging year and technology was the last thing most mid-sized businesses would spend on. They perceived IT as an expensive investment when the actual focus was on cutting costs. Microsoft wanted to challenge this mindset in 2010 and convince businesses that this year, technology could actually help them save on costs by making them more productive. We were briefed to create a calendar that could stay as a reminder of this fact throughout the year.

Creative Execution

Our calendar was competing for desk space against the many other calendars an IT Manager receives. The format of the calendar was something that has never been seen before. Moreover, the economic challenges continue into 2010 and this works as a day-to-day reminder that help is always at hand. Something that an IT Manager needs, considering that he is living with budget cuts and yet is faced with the task of keeping his IT department updated.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

So we created a ‘reducing calendar’. With pages that actually reduced in size as each month passed by. Acting as a day-to-day reminder of how they could reduce their efficiency problems by investing in technology. By the time the pages turned to December, we had made a solid point – how Microsoft’s solutions reduced delays in work, reduced time wastage, reduced communication issues, reduced travel expenses and reduced manual tasks that eventually led to reduced costs in businesses.

Results

We sent out 470 calendars to IT Managers of very large businesses. Many Microsoft Account Managers who handle these clients on a personal basis have found these calendars on the desks of their clients. Microsoft has decided to reprint the calendars even though we are in February. Besides this, a lot more hits were noticed on the website during the period the calendar was distributed.