"A VILLAGE OF EXPERTS" Promo / PR Ad for Windows 7 by Bungalow 25

Type of entry: Technique
Category: Best Use of Media Relations
Advertiser: MICROSOFT
Product/Service: WINDOWS 7
Agency: BUNGALOW 25 Madrid, SPAIN
President: Pablo Pérez-Solero (Bungalow25)
Creative Executive Director: Julio Gálvez (Bungalow25)
Creative Director: Iñigo Ancizu (Bungalow25)
Art Director: Myriam López (Bungalow25)
Account Director: Marta Larrauri (Bungalow25)
Producer: Raquel Riaño (Bungalow25)
Accont Executive: Edenia González (Bungalow25)
Describe the campaign/entry:
The 22nd October 2009 Microsoft’s new operating system: Windows 7 was launched.
Windows has always had an adult public as target, mainly male from a medium-medium social class… but Windows 7 wanted to go further and reach a broader target and even get to kids.
Our target was anyone who had a PC or anyone that wanted to renovate their PC (Windows 7 preinstalled)
Describe the brief from the client:
Our aim was to generate constant noise and, as a consequence, generate traffic to shops and close the purchase, we proposed a campaign that could prove Windows 7 is easy, convenient, intuitive and, especially, prove that it’s REAL.
Results:
The campaign had a great reception in the whole country and the easiness in its use and the program’s simplicity were only too well proved. Results were amazing:
2,8M US$ media value: 63 times on TV (153 minutes), 215 press articles (15 covers, 23 back covers) 49 radio, 270 online, 620 blogs, and international media coverage.
3,7Million page views with a 4 min average at the Sietes website
3,9Million MSN video streams, 350K page views / +30% increase average CTR% on-network
And, besides this, there is a fact that shows the success of the campaign in a clear way:
The number of W7 licenses foreseen for the whole year, were sold in 10 days.
Execution:
So, overnight, Sietes became a famous village. Journalists from all over the world came to the village for the presentation of the campaign, which was broadcasted to the whole country, even in London and New York they talked about Sietes: the village of experts in Windows 7.
But, maybe, the best campaign was making the lives of the inhabitants of Sietes a bit easier. So now:
The village has high-speed access to the net
They have a fully equipped IT literacy room
They are often given formation and IT improvement courses
All the neighbors received a license for Windows 7 as a gift
And even in Prida’s Bar, the only one in the village, we can find a PC where everyone can check their e-mail and have access to the Internet
The Situation:
Escaping from a leadership tone, this time they wanted a very close way to communicate, something that spoke on equal terms, friendly, simple, meek, letting know we had listened to the user and that we are giving him what he needs.
Windows 7’s success will be measured depending on the level of satisfaction of the user, regarding a technical superiority compared to Windows Vista, this way, the message had to focus on the user’s needs: make it simple.
The Strategy:
The solution was to make a big demo of the product in a privileged place: Sietes. A small village on the north of Spain, with no access to the Internet and with barely 40 inhabitants, whose vast majority had never used a computer before.
The first step was to create a school for them where all of its people could go to lessons and turn Sietes into a village of real experts in Windows 7. In a week’s time, the neighbors learned how to use the program and got used to it. They worked as actors on the teaser campaign that was going around the Web to announce its launching. They recorded testimonials where they explained how easy and simple it had been for them the new Windows 7, even for those who had never used a computer before.