Title | BACKGROUND BLINDSPOT |
Brand | MICROSOFT ADVERTISIGN |
Product / Service | MICROSOFT TEAMS |
Category | G07. Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility |
Entrant | PERFORMICS MERCEBELL Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Idea Creation | PERFORMICS MERCEBELL Sydney, AUSTRALIA |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Vaughan Townsend | Performics Mercerbell | Executive Creative Director |
Samantha Cable | Performics Mercerbell | Senior Copywriter |
Kostia Liakhov | Performics Mercerbell | Senior Art Director |
Gene Stapleton | Performics Mercerbell | Studio Manager |
Jason Tonelli | Performics Mercerbell | Chief Executive Officer |
Virginia Tong | Performics Mercerbell | Group Customer Partner |
Jodie Allen | Performics Mercerbell | Senior Account Director |
Jessica Silver | Performics Mercerbell | Senior Account Manager |
Maria Galang | Performics Mercerbell | Production Director |
Ruby Menezes | Performics Mercerbell | Head of Analytics |
Francesca Rostirolla | Performics Mercerbell | Analytics Manager |
James Winchester | Performics Mercerbell | UX Lead |
Jill Antonio | Publicis Groupe | Communications Manager |
The Background Blindspot is a direct, digital campaign that sits at the alchemy of insights, creativity, and media. The project was an elegant and timely response to the world's longest Covid-19 lockdown occurring in Melbourne, Australia. In partnership with Microsoft, on a $0 media budget, Background Blindspot opened the eyes of over 1,000,000 people. In the midst of a growing mental health crisis, the campaign produced a profound effect on our target audience that will linger for years to come. The Background Blindspot is a phenomenal example of response-driven creativity.
The Covid lockdown has taken a toll on Australia’s mental health. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in five Aussies reported high levels of psychological distress between June 2020 and June 2021. It also may come as a surprise that 17.6 million national mental health-related services were processed this year. Plus, over the past 12 months, Australia’s leading suicide prevention hotline service, Lifeline, received a 40% increase in calls. It’s clear the pandemic has been tough. But with the endless stream of 24/7 #WFH video meetings, you’d think it would be easy to spot the red flags of someone who may be struggling. Not so. As one of the world’s leading video conferencing software developers, Microsoft Teams wanted to offer support through challenging lockdown times, while opening Australians’ eyes to the mental health crisis.
Did you know the average remote worker spends 40% of their video call time looking at themselves? Yes, at themselves. How can you see the full picture when you have a blindspot? For World Mental Health Day 2021, on a $0 media budget, Microsoft launched the Background Blindspot—a groundbreaking Microsoft Teams social experiment that confirms we are all blinkered when it comes to noticing mental health struggles online. The social experiment ran across five days, guided by psychologist Sabina Read. From empty wine bottles to dishevelled hair, each day our volunteers showed changes in behaviour, appearance and background. After 180 hours of video calls and 84 virtual participants, did anyone reach out? Not one. What started as a small experiment to normalise mental health conversations in lockdown, transformed into an eye-opening campaign capturing the hearts and minds of over 1,000,000 people.
During the pandemic, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported an 80% increase in internet usage (2020-2021). The primary demographic were corporate professionals across the country who migrated into their living rooms. With the explosion of Microsoft Teams and back-to-back video meetings, Microsoft wanted to champion mental wellbeing and reduce video call fatigue. Thus, we developed a strategy to reexamine the relationship remote workers had with their screens to create a mentally healthier space for all. Our approach was a direct, digital campaign to inspire action and change behaviour. Our target audience were remote workers—both those directly impacted by the social experiment, and the wider community who viewed the content piece. The call to action directed Australians to www.backgroundblindspot.com where we collected data. The page was also equipped with an interactive role-playing experience, videos from our psychologist, and downloadable, personalised Microsoft Teams backgrounds.
Background Blindspot is an arresting invitation to kickstart the conversation around digital wellbeing. From ideation to completion, the timeline was an eight week development period. The social experiment took place between September 20-24th, 2021. The website and social experiment content went live for World Mental Health Day October on 10th, 2021. Two weeks post-launch, results were picked up by local and international press, regional and metropolitan radio, digital, and Channel 7’s The Morning Show. To scale the campaign and prove Australia really did have a digital blindspot, we extended the experiment to Social with a leading influencer. Over five days, our influencer changed his background, behaviour and appearance. Would you have noticed? Not one person in his community did. As a cherry on top, two of Australia’s most trusted charities supported the campaign—RUOK? and ReachOut.
This worldfirst social experiment and direct marketing campaign created a ripple effect for perception change in Australia—but most importantly, it reminded our target audience to see beyond their blindspot. Our impact: • Over 1 million impressions (501,445 impressions across TV and Radio & 538,150 impressions across Web and Social) • International press coverage • More than half of website visitors spent 3 minutes or more on the site. • 1 in 6 website visitors downloaded our Microsoft Teams World Mental Health Day backgrounds. • Two of Australia’s most trusted charities supported the campaign: RUOK? and ReachOut. • $0 media budget • 100% change in perspective While working online brings new opportunities, it also poses new challenges. The Background Blindspot is just the beginning when it comes to raising mental health awareness, as we continue to look out for one another in a new digital world.
Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Microsoft has been helping people connect during disconnected times. From the Global Skills Initiative, to running vaccination sites, to over 150 grants awarded to COVID-19 projects, it’s clear Microsoft’s brand purpose is centered around wellness, recovery and bringing the community together. Being one of the most essential pieces of video call software, Microsoft Teams wanted to contribute to the larger brand's global efforts. As a result, the Background Blindspot was created to support the target audience of remote working professionals and continue Microsoft’s purpose.