Microsite.com

In the middle of April, Microsoft (not Microsite) employee Geert Desager decided to try something a little different to promote Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions. The result is brilliant.

In 2006, one of Microsoft’s European agencies called Openhere delivered a Powerpoint presentation that explained, among other things, “how to communicate with people in this whole new age of advertising.”

The presentation went on to talk about “communicating in a more rich and meaningful way.”

Microsoft's Microsite Blog ImageBut the agency didn’t want to spread the word through a traditional television ad. Instead, it suggested a web-movie to demonstrate Microsoft’s positioning that it understands Web 2.0, the changing world of marketing, and its role in it.

During the presentation Openhere also posed the question, “How are we going to make sure our target sees the movie without a media budget?”

This is where Geert comes in with a novel idea. He started a blog on a Microsite called www.bringtheloveback.com.

In Geert’s words: “The whole idea of this campaign (not only the blog or the movie but all the others things we have planned) is to position us, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, in the center of this dialogue between advertisers and consumers. The message that we want to get across is that we can help advertisers to reconnect with consumers or we can help to bring the love back!”

His dream was for the movie to go viral, so he started contacting a few bloggers – 15 or so. “Not only class-A bloggers but only good bloggers (some of them, despite an excellent blog have an authority 1 on technorati). The rule wasn’t their power of influence but the fact we had a real relation with them.”

Geert blogged about the production of the upcoming web-movie on his www.bringtheloveback.com. The audience size at first was about 60 unique visitors per day.

The agency then created a poster about the movie. The audience size increased.

Then on May 16, Geert posted the movie. And it started showing up in lots of places. Influential places. With lots of positive comments. From influential bloggers (not me).

Within 40 hours, here are the results (according the Geert’s blog):
- Views of the movie: +14,000 views of the movie
- Views of the posting of the movie: more than 4,500 yesterday and today already more than 1,800
- Incoming links: +100
- Comments on the posting: 57
- Comments on the site: 20
- Tone of voice: very good (only a few negative comments)

We’ll have to see how quickly it goes viral. The movie is great. The Microsite blog detailing the production is innovative. My bet is that it takes off. And if it does, it’ll not only illuminate the new world of marketing, but provide a possible road map for getting there.