The Christmas Truce of 1914 saw widespread but unofficial ceasefires on the Western Front. Germans and British soldiers laid down their arms to exchange food and souvenirs, even engaging in a friendly game of football. We wanted to stage our own holiday truce as a gesture of goodwill, inspiring others to act in kind. So we invited real Microsoft employees from around the country to send in musical auditions for a television commercial in New York City, like our own version of American Idol. Their passion and imagination far exceeded our wildest expectations. And ultimately, 37 of Microsoft’s most talented were selected to march up iconic 5th Avenue destined for Apple’s flagship store. There, they proceeded to serenade the competition with a pitch-perfect rendition of “Let There be Peace on Earth.” The performance was warmly received by Apple employees, and the news quickly spread across social media.

Social Media: Our 60 second spot initially launched Dec. 1st globally in Social Media, supported by a 2 minute long-form version, as well as a 2 minute Behind the Scenes video that was released the subsequent day. In addition to sparking strong conversation in the US, our spots also gained significant traction across the UK, India, Australia, France and the Philippines.

TVC: A national broadcast spot (US) aired the following day (Dec. 2), greatly boosting our social video views, and further promoting organic conversation around the activation.

Within the first two days of debuting on Microsoft’s social channels, we saw incredible results with over 38 million potential impressions in social, and coverage in over 47 publications. We were also the number one trending story on Facebook. Based on our success in social, we opted to extend the video into a broadcast media buy the same week.

We set out to grow brand love and increase trust, and ended up creating a huge impact on the way people talk about Microsoft online. We boosted positive sentiment surrounding the brand by 5.4 percent in the first 24 hours – showing that our positive message of holiday cheer really resonated with the web, not just in the US, but around the world as well.

Extending good tidings to a long-time competitor may seem unexpected, but Microsoft has spent the past year making efforts to promote partnership and cross-platform functionality with the goal of making it easier to collaborate across any device. The internet blew up when Microsoft made an appearance at Apple’s 2015 keynote presentation, so we knew there would be an opportunity to extend the narrative and resonate with fans of both companies.

We wanted our message to reach the widest targets possible (touching on all of our key segments: Tech Setters, Cultural Curators, Productive Practicals, Mainstreamers) but we knew we’d have the biggest impact within the social sphere if we targeted both Microsoft and Apple fans, using their surprise and engagement to spread the word.

Holiday marketing campaigns have traditionally concentrated on competitive messages designed to sway buyers toward their products and services. But for 2015, Microsoft wanted to take a different approach. It was a banner year of innovation and collaboration for Microsoft with their traditional rivals (making a surprise guest appearance at Apple’s keynote, ramping up integration with Google), and it made sense to spread the notions of openness and partnership with friends new and old. Commemorating the opening of a flagship retail store in New York, Microsoft had the opportunity to reach out to our new neighbors down the street at the 5th Avenue Apple Store and be the first to extend a hand this holiday season.