Microsoft @ 25
PURPOSE
PURPOSE
A favorite client at Microsoft (we had worked on Bill Gates’ book, The Road Ahead, a few years earlier) wanted to celebrate the 25th anniversary with something more meaningful than T-shirts and keychains. Together, we developed and pitched a concept of telling Microsoft's story through the voices of its employees. Microsoft had never authorized a book about itself, and most published works either attack the company or shower it with praise — neither capturing its true spirit. We explored the idea and divided it into five themed sections, each representing different concepts in an intimate, personal way; similar to a series of magazines.
A favorite client at Microsoft (we had worked on Bill Gates’ book, The Road Ahead, a few years earlier) wanted to celebrate the 25th anniversary with something more meaningful than T-shirts and keychains. Together, we developed and pitched a concept of telling Microsoft's story through the voices of its employees. Microsoft had never authorized a book about itself, and most published works either attack the company or shower it with praise — neither capturing its true spirit. We explored the idea and divided it into five themed sections, each representing different concepts in an intimate, personal way; similar to a series of magazines.
APPROACH
APPROACH
Our graphic approach was simple, but collecting stories, finding the right people to tell them individually, and weaving them into a larger collection was challenging. Overall, 800 people were interviewed, half photographed in relation to their stories, and all edited to keep their words in the first person. It was crucial to maintain an unbranded voice for the employees (and graphics, photography, and type) to preserve the stories' authenticity.
Our graphic approach was simple, but collecting stories, finding the right people to tell them individually, and weaving them into a larger collection was challenging. Overall, 800 people were interviewed, half photographed in relation to their stories, and all edited to keep their words in the first person. It was crucial to maintain an unbranded voice for the employees (and graphics, photography, and type) to preserve the stories' authenticity.
RESULTS
RESULTS
Our final product weighed in at six pounds, 15 months, and 328 pages. It would have kept growing, but we stopped the client from adding more pages during the flight to the press check.
Three main goals were successfully achieved: the book was delivered to 45,000 employees (each listed in 2.5-point type in the endpapers), copies were printed domestically and internationally for bookstores, and we’re still seeing some of the images in Microsoft’s materials years later.
Perhaps the most lasting benefit was getting to know every aspect of the company from the inside out and being able to tell stories, like chasing Madagascar hissing cockroaches around a sound stage during a photoshoot...
Our final product weighed in at six pounds, 15 months, and 328 pages. It would have kept growing, but we stopped the client from adding more pages during the flight to the press check.
Three main goals were successfully achieved: the book was delivered to 45,000 employees (each listed in 2.5-point type in the endpapers), copies were printed domestically and internationally for bookstores, and we’re still seeing some of the images in Microsoft’s materials years later.
Perhaps the most lasting benefit was getting to know every aspect of the company from the inside out and being able to tell stories, like chasing Madagascar hissing cockroaches around a sound stage during a photoshoot...
