Microsoft Surface helps you turn dreams into reality, in ways that other devices can’t: it’s more powerful, versatile, and lighter than other options. But despite its superior specs, people were still defaulting to the category leader: Apple. In short, we had a brand love problem. Everyone knows Apple is for creative people, and the brand is beloved. But Surface is designed for more than the creators—it's for the doers; the achievers; the innovators; the trailblazers. If the Mac is for Grimes, Surface is for Amanda Gorman. Microsoft knew what it stood for, but people didn't. Our objectives? Connect with women (one of the cohorts most capable of growing the business), build brand love, and drive meaningful cultural change. If we could earn the reputation of a trailblazer in the eyes of women, Surface could become a beloved brand to this crucial audience.

Who better to highlight on sports biggest night than Katie Sowers, the Offensive Assistant Coach for the San Francisco 49ers, and the first woman and LGBTQIA+ person to coach in the league? She embodied the brand purpose of helping people turn dreams into reality (bringing it to the surface).

Katie was a trailblazer — serving as a role model to inspire the next generation — and using Surface devices to turn her dreams into reality.

When it was announced that Katie Sowers’ team would progress to the Super Bowl, we knew had to tell her story on the world’s biggest stage, during the biggest night in sports. Katie wasn’t just the first female coach in the league — she was the first to coach in a Super Bowl. In telling her story in this context, we could inspire girls to not just stick with football, but to reach the top.

It only takes one person breaking through to change the future for all of us.

We found this insight through examining why there are fewer women in football — and we found several issues.

From a young age, there is no one showing them they can have a career in sports: males dominate the field. Beginning in middle school, female athletes are half as likely as their male counterparts to believe they can have a sports career. But, two in three girls said that if they could see more females in sports, they would be more likely to pursue a sports career themselves.

When no path exists, one is a powerful number. History has shown us time and time again, one trailblazer can change everything, for all of us.

We had to put a human face to the Surface, to inspire all of us to be the one.

To drive real change, we had to lead with inspiration, but quickly follow with action. So, we developed a 3-step approach to changing the sidelines.

First, a Super Bowl film: we captured Katie’s career journey to “being the one,” starting with a letter she wrote about her dreams as a young girl, and cut with footage of Katie in action. It ran across TV, OLV and social, before and during the game.

Second, we recruited the next generation of trailblazers: we invited girls in-store to hear Katie’s story, and then write letters to their future selves, just like Katie. The girls’ families and Microsoft shared their letters across social, creating a wave of “Dear Future Self” letters.

Finally, we targeted the root of the problem: we created a tool to eliminate unconscious bias for over 350M Microsoft office users. The tool highlights non-inclusive language in people’s writing and offers alternates.

Our objectives were to build brand love, and catalyze real cultural change. As the most "Emotionally Effective Super Bowl Ad of 2020," we generated 1.4 billion impressions, $27MM+ in earned media, and 20M+ YouTube views. This led to significant perception lifts.

Build brand love: With an audience this size, a 5-point lift would have been major—but we saw a 16-point lift in “Surface is a Brand I love” and a 17-point lift in “Surface is a Brand for People Like Me.”

Drive meaningful cultural change: Conversations around women in sports increased 453% on social. And the most game-changing result of all? The NFL made a new commitment to hire more women, effectively showcasing our brand’s mission to turn dreams into reality, and proving that it only takes one to change everything.