Microsoft wanted help reshaping perceptions of their brand, so we challenged them to take a risk and shift their focus from products to people—celebrating individuals around the world who are making great things happen. We launched their Instagram channel with a game-changing global adventure. A small team from Edelman (myself included), along with hired National Geographic photographer Justin Bastien, traveled the world shooting people who #DoMore every day, focusing on human moments instead of products. This unique angle also helped Microsoft reach a new target audience, shifting from male teen gamers to more general, female-centric millennials.
We traveled enough distance to circle the globe twice, shot in over 45 individual locations, and did it all in under 3 months.

Role: Associate Creative Director/Creative Lead/World Traveler

Here are just a few examples of the people we met, but be sure to visit the feed (starting at the very first post!) to see all the stories.

Of course the campaign went beyond Instagram—we leveraged Microsoft’s other social followings by sharing alternate images from our photographer and behind-the-scenes photos from the Edelman team on Microsoft’s Facebook and Twitter channels, and told a more in-depth story about several of our “Doers” on the Microsoft corporate blog.

A few results: Within 3 months of going live we had over 100,00 likes, more than 62k followers, and positive mentions went up 3000% on twitter. Instagram even featured our photography in their 2015 CES booth, naming it Best In Class photography from a brand.

Buzz: Mashable, SF Egotist & PR Daily: