So, boiled down, we had to make productivity outweigh style with teens…tough.

Our answer to was to leverage one annual moment when teens are shocked into inordinate sensibility. A moment when solemn reflection and studious planning for the future overrides living for the moment…

Exam results day.

On this day teens are bombarded with “what will you do next?” – from parents, teachers, even media. According to the UK University and Colleges Union (2014) over 1/5 have no idea what they want to do.

We wanted to reframe this occasion, to show them the plethora of possibilities open to them and make this a uniquely exciting moment in their lives, and - if they’re in the market for a new laptop - demonstrate that the Microsoft Surface has the versatility to support them, whatever they decide to pursue.

The campaign’s hero video was posted to the Microsoft UK YouTube channel on exam results day.

The video featured clickable overlays over each of the vloggers, bloggers and Instagrammers featured in the video, clicking through to supporting blog posts, vlogs and social updates which influencer partners posted to support the campaign.

Along with being supported by social posts from Microsoft UK’s social profiles and targeted online media, there was also a meticulously choreographed burst of influencer involvement which meant that on A-level results day, Microsoft Surface had an extremely relevant and powerful message supported by credible, inspirational and popular teen personalities.

To maximize awareness and reach we even partnered with Prospects.ac.uk so anyone coming to us for advice and information had a place to go to plan their next career step.

Campaign related content received 928,380 views

(target of 788,850 views)

The campaign’s hero video received over 650,000 view

(target of 475,850)

It was Microsoft UK’s most engaging campaign ever with 63,757 likes, comments and shares

While Apple’s purchase consideration dropped, Surface has the biggest increase in the category, from 37% - 50% amongst 16 -21 year olds

One very happy client