Microsoft’s productivity messaging lacks resonance amongst Creative Professionals who are drawn to technology brands that empower their creativity.

To disrupt their (mis)perceptions, we needed a fresh approach to media that would allow us to reach them while they were paying attention and highlight our best-in-class features in engaging ways. We identified ABC Network’s critically-acclaimed black-ish, an American TV show that features a middle class African American family. It was a perfect match:

1) The show’s lead characters are Creative Professionals with Dre, played by Anthony Anderson (Emmy, SAG, Golden Globe nominee, Transformers), working at the show’s fictional ad agency

2) The hit comedy indexed highly against Creative Professionals (113 index, in a proprietary national panel survey)

3) Aligns with Microsoft’s brand values ? celebrating diversity and empowering people to achieve more

So we pitched a question to the show’s producers: what if Surface could become the fictional agency’s next client?

To maximize engagement, It was important for the idea to evolve across multiple touchpoints throughout the entire season:

- In the premiere, Microsoft is introduced as a new client for the fictional ad agency, and duly handed a brief to launch the new Surface Book.

- Later in the season, the Microsoft client arrives for the creative pitch but the team has been so busy playing with the device’s killer features, they forgot to create the presentation.

- Episode 16 saw the launch of exclusive social content inviting viewers to go behind the scenes to see Surface #BlackishBrainstorms.

- The season culminated in a 60 second branded content spot that ran on-air (in commercial airtime), on-demand and on the ABC black-ish site

- This ad spot featured characters from the same episode, blurring the boundaries between advertising and programming for the viewer.

•>12MM people were exposed to Microsoft content on TV and online across the season

•The partnership helped drive a +14% purchase intent lift vs. +5% target

•87% of recognizers said Surface is for people like me (+25)

•87% said Surface is cool (+23)

•84% said Surface innovates in ways that matter to me (+22)

•71% said is a brand I love (+21)

•Consideration increased +9

•The socially distributed custom content spot received 1.8MM live impressions, with an average view rate of 96% (vs. industry average 86%)

•Facebook posts had an engagement rate of 7%+ (vs. average engagement rate 1%)

•The custom content spot received 1.8MM live impressions, with an average view rate of 96% (vs. 83% Surface average, Dec 2016-present)

•Of the 1.8MM impressions, 94.6% of those were watched 75%-100% of the way through (vs. 67% Surface average, Dec 2016-present)

Sources: Microsoft ICE, Millward Brown, iSpot, Facebook, Nielsen