case studies
Together with the Office department at Microsoft Poland and in partnership with Dom Zagadek we set out to prove that both Office 365 and Surface Pro apps shouldn't just be associated with work, but also with fun. And it is possible to have fun behind closed doors. And on these foundations we built P@ssWord, Microsoft's first technology escape room in the world.
the strategy developed
Public
Relations
Influencer Video Marketing
Competition
Event
Social Media
Escape rooms are a good point-of-contact of a new kind: they open up a new space of contact between the brand and the customer, where the latter's involvement rate is much higher and has a more personal dimension than with other marketing channels.
On the other hand, an escape room can be a mini-showroom for a brand's products or an attractive formula for demonstrating a brand's values or core strengths - provided, of course, that the brand is considered a 'love brand' (which boils down to the question: would you like to wear it on your T-shirt?) and is part of pop culture. Because a good escape-room cannot tell a BRAND'S HISTORY. Rather, it is for the brand to tell a NEW HISTORY in it, in which the brand itself only appears in places. Like a chorus in a Greek drama.
No brand in Poland before us has used escape-rooms for long-term communication or promotion of its products. We were the first to do this for Microsoft Poland.
activities
Opened in July 2018 in Warsaw, at 4 Zwrotnicza Street, P@ssWord room in the Riddle Houseis an escape room infused with Microsoft technologies. Its silent heroes are Office 365 applications and Surface Pro computers. Its slightly louder protagonist is Minecraft, which is referenced by the gadgets and puzzles available in the room. And its loudest heroes are the several thousand people who have visited the room making it so that there has not been a single day in which someone has not locked themselves in P@ssWord.
The room was inspired by a wish made by the Polish Office 365 department, which went something like this: "Let's do something cool, something entertaining, something under consumers. Something that would show that Office 365 apps are sexy. And that they are useful."
In response to this request, together with the Riddle House we brought several wheelbarrows of cement, a concrete mixer, we brought painter's paint, several bags of plaster and mortar. We knocked down a few walls and rearranged a few too. And we developed a P@ssWord scenario, with specific ideas for using Office applications and Surface devices.
We have woven iconic Office 365 applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint into the story this room tells. Their skilful use is key to the output. The key to getting out of the P@ssWord is for players to work closely with each other. Sometimes they work on shared Office documents online and sometimes individually.
- Surface's anti-Luvr strategy was based on six pillars:
- Working with influencers (Magdalena Pankiewicz) - video
- Content and competition platform (Behance.net) - link
- Media relations
- Outdoor/Event in an art gallery (exhibition of selected competition works in Xanadu Art Gallery)
- Print: Album Surface Anti-Luvr
- Cooperation with a non-profit organisation (WOŚP)
The campaign began with a collaboration with influencer Magdalena Pankiewicz, who became the locomotive of the entire campaign. She is one of the most respected Polish illustrators in the world.
Her task was to 'enhance' five works by master painters and adapt them to contemporary realities, using the capabilities of the Surface Pro and Surface Pen. The collaboration resulted in a video to promote the Surface Anti-Luvre competition.
The second step was the launch of the Surface AntyLuwr digital gallery on Behance.net. Here, all the masterpieces created by internet users who took part in the competition were collected. The rules were simple: the participant had to add a modern touch to any of 24 classic paintings by master painters, from Leonardo da Vinci to Van Gogh. In the end, nearly 200 digital images were collected in the Surface AntyLuwr gallery. At the same time, media relations activities were underway to promote the competition and the works already created.
The third step was an event at Xanadu Art Gallery in Warsaw, combined with the launch of a temporary exhibition of 14 selected artworks created in the competition. The event was accompanied by a lecture on the history of painting, and nearly 50 people attended the opening of the exhibition.
The fourth step was the publication of a limited edition of 100 copies of the bilingual Surface AntyLuwr Art Album, reminiscent of the Taschen albums well known to painting connoisseurs.
The fifth step was to donate 3 selected paintings to the charity auction of the non-profit organisation, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.
effects
- Escape room P@ssWord for Microsoft won the prestigious IN2SABRE Certificate of Excellence award in the Best in Brand Narratives category. It was also narrowly edged out of the top 5 best PR campaigns in EMEA, in the Technology: Software and Services category of the world's most important PR competition: the SABRE Awards
- The campaign was also recognised in Poland. In the Złote Spinacze 2019 competition, organised by the Association of Public Relations Firms, P@ssWord received 2 silver clips in the categories: Product PR and New Technologies
- At P@ssWord, we locked 25 journalists under lock and key. They all had time to think. And they must have liked it, because every one of them wrote a complimentary review. The advertising equivalent from our activities reached nearly 50,000 US dollars. Information about P@ssWord potentially reached 8 million users
- And what went wrong? Parking. We could have thought of a bigger car park though....