In the advertising marketplace, retrenchment strategies are a dime a dozen, and that doesn't get our creative juices going here at Persuasion.
But when a robust, clever and artful marketing campaign flutters by, driven by a company that senses a return on investment when others smell only fear, we take notice.
So let's talk about Microsoft Corp.
Not the "teaser" Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates commercials for Windows (nor the Deepak Chopra ones that followed with that odd "I am a human being. Not a human doing" line).
But a business-to-business campaign set to launch in Canada on Monday featuring WestJet Airlines Ltd. chief executive officer Sean Durfy.
How can I describe it?
The 30-second television spot is simply and whimsically rendered with animated line drawings, featuring Mr. Durfy in the first shot. A narrator asks: "So Durf, how do you keep the vision alive?"
"Durf" talks about how WestJet grew and grew and how people make the company.
"With 7,500 folks all over Canada and the U.S., you can't look in everybody's eyes any more," the CEO says. "We now look at technology as a strategic driver of the company. If you don't have that, you're screwed, brother."
The campaign is being overseen by Gayle Troberman, Microsoft's global general manager for branded entertainment who has just started to take on broader duties running Microsoft's advertising and customer engagement team. It's also a big spend - estimated as high as $150-million (U.S.) - at a time of seismic retrenchment in the ad space.
Therein lies opportunity.
"When we thought about whether we should launch this campaign, or not launch the campaign, we really believed that we have an incredible set of products to offer business to help them manage more efficiently and more effectively through this economic climate," Ms. Troberman says. Plus, she adds, "there are some great opportunities on the media side. Some companies are pulling advertising back so there's a lot of opportunity economically for us."
The WestJet spot is but one element in a multiplatform strategy pegged to the tagline "It's Everybody's Business," as in, it's everybody's business to drive results.
"It's aimed at the business and IT decision makers," Ms. Troberman says. "Some of the software and services that we offer can really be critical to saving money and helping customers manage the bottom line."
Case in point: How video conference tools can save a corporation as much as 30 per cent of its travel costs.
Unconventionally, Microsoft has tapped other companies to get its message out. In the U.S., Quiksilver Inc. CEO Bob McKnight is animated in the same manner as Mr. Durfy, except he's wearing surfer shorts. "Everybody's talking about the economic tsunami. What does that mean to a surfing CEO?" is the question put to Mr. McKnight. "Ummmmm," the CEO responds in a fabulously unedited narrative. "Tsunami in surfing is sort of a thrilling prospect. But a tsunami in business is kind of terrifying. ... Without technology we would be nowhere."
A third spot features Katie Bayne, chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola Co. in North America. Additional spots will be rolled out featuring global companies that Ms. Troberman declines to name, though targeted countries include Japan, France, Germany and Britain.
"The tone and personality of the campaign reflects the idea that business is real and business is personal and it's unique and it's individual," Ms. Troberman says. "It's as individual as the differences between McKnight and Durfy and Katie Bayne."
The creative talents at JWT, New York, conceptualized the campaign, which from day one was crafted as an animated, digitally produced series.
"The customers who participated were literally participating over the phone, so you're saving on shoots and travel and all sorts of costs that tend to make television costs very expensive," Ms. Troberman says. "That was always a selling point.'
At WestJet, winning the participation of Mr. Durfy doesn't sound like a very hard sell.
"We were approached by Microsoft to determine if we would be interested in getting involved with this campaign," says Richard Bartrem, WestJet's vice-president, culture and communications. "They showed us some examples of what they were trying to accomplish with other companies around the world and said from a Canadian perspective WestJet was representative of what they were trying to achieve."
From WestJet's perspective, being "representative" meant being seen as a people-driven organization. "That people component is the most important piece from our perspective," Mr. Bartrem says. "At the end of the day we take an aluminum cylinder and fill it with guests and fuel and fly it across the country. Something that's clearly making a difference for us in the marketplace is people."
"What we saw from Microsoft's perspective," he continues, "was that technology can enable your people to do greater things, as opposed to a hard sell on here's the technology you need for any particular project."
Were there any reservations about introducing Mr. Durfy to a television-watching audience as "Durf?"
Nope.
"The folks at the agency asked Sean, what would somebody call you who might consider you a friend? ... The notion that somebody would be calling him Durf within the first few minutes was not foreign to him."
It sounds as though the only tweaking had to do with a little to-ing and fro-ing as to whether the line renderings represented a true likeness of the CEO, with Mr. Durfy asking, "Do I really look like that?'" The interview was done by phone. Simple. Relatively cheap.
Was money involved? "There were no financial requirements on our part, which was kind of nice," Mr. Bartrem says. "Obviously the hero of the spot is Microsoft, but it's nice for us."
Back in Seattle, Gayle Troberman says other Canadian companies will follow WestJet with radio spots.
"We will constantly be adding new folks to the campaign as we move forward," she says. She is not yet willing, however, to make the names of those companies everybody's business.