Smart Moves
When Microsoft decided to launch their competitive product to Google Ads., they turned to us to help develop the position, brand, strategy, acquisition and ongoing relationship management programs. We helped distinguish their offering and compelled brands and agencies of all sizes to sign up and stay engaged with Microsoft Advertising. To launch the product, we crafted a look and feel to reflect the unique smart features of the product itself. The campaign started by congratulating our customers for the smart move they made by signing up with Microsoft Advertising, then kept them engaged by highlighting best practices and product tools to boost their results and help them continue making smart moves on their SEM journey.
We developed a campaign lifecycle that kicked into action the moment our audience opened the product for the first time. From the first run experience, to monthly progress reports, to emails designed to reduce churn after inactivity, the campaign was designed to keep users engaged and informed at every turn. The design system we implemented conveyed how the product was always at work in the background — optimizing our users ads and creating the best results possible for our users’ budget.
Busting SEM Myths
Building on the success of our Smart Moves campaign, Microsoft set a new challenge in front of us to help educating marketing and advertising agencies on the merits of MS Ads, and get them to use the product to help their clients get better SEM results. Being savvy advertisers ourselves, we knew the traditional approach to email wasn’t going to land with this audience. Instead, we stripped all the unnecessary elements out, and built a series of emails that presented the compelling benefits of MS Ads in a straightforward and scannable way. We let strong headlines become our hero graphic element, and let our layout skills take the front seat in creating animpactful, easy to digest narrative.
