Creative Execution

We created a 96-second animation about a student who photographs a bee on his smartphone, discovers they are endangered, starts a school project to solve the problem, which goes global and results in students using vertical gardens to start urban honey factories. A mix of ethnicities and female voice-over reflect typical student populations and the predominance of women teachers. The animation launched at Edutech conference, complemented with a modest online campaign, Facebook, blog posts and tweets drawing on the colourful illustrations.These and the animation title ‘Next Level Learning’ became the theme for Microsoft’s NSW roadshow and subsequent advertising and events.

The animation launched Microsoft’s Next Level Learning to 6000 educators at Edutech. According to Microsoft, “The simple messaging and animation allowed the Microsoft in education value proposition to be understood by educators where brand perception has shifted from a traditional tech company to one that empowers educators to engage with students in meaningful way.” The animation style was so appealing it became the theming for a state-wide roadshow reaching 500 attendees. The animation was used to drive traffic to Australian Teachers Blog, creating a 50% increase in traffic over the 4-week period. It has received 1300 views on youtube.

To build relationships and sales, Microsoft wanted to demonstrate to K-12 teachers and principals how their technologies engage students and transform learning. Because story-telling is a fundamental teaching technique, we believed the target audience would relate well to a story about a student’s learning journey showcasing Microsoft technologies at each step. We also recognised that an animated story would be more fun to watch and could make the key points without coming across as traditional advertising. The unique insight ‘learning happens in moments’ was shaped in a brainstorming session and we came up with the story of ‘saving the bees’ that would highlight each learning ‘moment’ for a student, from the inspiration for his school project to where it takes him – as his idea grows and involves his classmates, teachers, school and other students around the globe – all aided by Microsoft technology.