For the launch of Office 2007, McCann Erickson in San Francisco helped Microsoft get the message across to office workers around the globe that it feels their pain by engaging them at www.office2007.com. The interactive site is equal parts entertaining and informative.
The entertainment is provided by five two-minute web films directed by Stacy Wall of bicoastal Epoch Films. Each one is developed from what Microsoft considers pain points and depicts a darkly humorous situation in which international businesspeople grapple with disastrous consequences of ineffective software. For instance, Nightmare, which shows a German executive botching a presentation, addresses the need to communicate effectively and persuasively. Each film ends with an interactive component–visitors can participate in a demo of the Microsoft Office 2007 feature that goes along with the point of pain addressed in the film. The site was built in-house at McCann.
“There is a real opportunity to do something pretty special and interesting with all the different kinds of media and ways of connecting with people that are available to you as a marketer right now,” explained John McNeil, executive creative director. “With the launch of Office 2007 in particular we thought it was a real opportunity to display the benefit of using the new version in a see-it-for-yourself kind of way. To get people to try it, you need to get people to a place where they can try it, to a point they are willing to opt into lots of different types of experiences.”
Knowing that the films couldn’t be goofy or frivolous to get people to opt into watching them, the McCann team tapped Wall. “He actually brought an extra level of ambition to the project. He really embraced the project and really made the films very special in a way that was about capturing the language of filmmaking as opposed to commercials,” McNeil said. He cited the film Mesmerize as an example.
Mesmerizing Work In Mesmerize, workers are so entranced with something on the computer that they fail to notice a piece of toast catch fire in a toaster in their office kitchen, eventually engulfing the kitchen and entire office in flames. Even with water from the fire sprinklers soaking them, the office workers can’t take their eyes off the screen. “No one should underestimate the powerful attraction of an intuitive new interface,” says the voiceover.
“That could have been a small fire in a very unimpressive kind of depiction, but instead it was an inferno,” McNeil said. “It was also done with a certain kind of poetry to it. What I love about Stacy is he really does know how to tell a story with all the different parts that are at his disposal, in terms of filmic effect, music, deciding whether or not something should be performed as an on-camera dialogue type of thing or whether we should consider voiceover. Stacy was a real partner in terms of how we talked about and executed the work.”
Since the web films are airing internationally, Wall suggested they have an international look and feel, from casting to set design and costumes. He worked with agency creatives to create the voiceover as the unifying element in the films. They were shot over six days on five different sets created on two stages in Tempe, Ariz. Wall credits Epoch producer John Duffin for assembling the right team and making it all happen. Of the five films, Divider is his and McNeil’s favorite.
In the film, viewers see two co-workers who have never met–even though they’ve worked together for 30-plus years–because of the office divider between them. The company was slowly dying until the divider was removed. The co-workers meet, shake hands and begin talking business. Similar connections are also made amongst other workers and electricity fills the company. At the end, visitors can try demos of programs that facilitate working together, such as Live Meeting.
“I like the sort of charm and simplicity to all of the films,” said Wall. “Some criticism has come from people who’ve said, ‘So what did that film really tell me?’ I would venture to say that what it tells you is something new is happening with Office 2007 and you should check it out. That’s about as much as you can expect from an ad. I think too many people make the mistake of trying to prove something in an ad. It’s about getting people intrigued by something.”
CREDITS:
Client
Microsoft Agency McCann Erickson, San Francisco Rob Bagot, John McNeil, executive creative directors; Kevin Gammon, associate creative director; Therese Vreeland, producer; Rob Bagot, Juliana Cobb, copywriters; John McNeil, Kevin Gammon, Aviva Kapust, art directors; Kelly Arens, Stuart Roud, Web AD; Ibrahim Arsalan, Paul Oberlander, flash programming Production Company Epoch Films, bicoastal Stacy Wall, director; Sal Totino, DP; Jerry Solomon, executive producer; John Duffin, producer Editorial The Whitehouse, Santa Monica Rick Lawley, Lisa Gunning, editors; Gail Butler, producer Telecine Company 3, Santa Monica Sean Coleman, colorist VFX/Post Ring of Fire, Santa Monica John Myers, executive producer; Justin Beaupre, Casey Conroy, Alex Mannone, producers; Jerry Spivack, creative director; John Ciampa, flame/online artist; Chris Navas, graphics; Greg Anderson, VFX supervisor Music Elias Arts, Santa Monica Jonathan Elias, composer Sound Design Play, Santa Monica Chris Hildrew, sound designer