Microsoft has enlisted ‘Sam and Mattie’ to host their coverage of the Special Olympics World Games in a lead activation strand based around a series of online vlogs.
These young Rhode Island filmmakers (and best friends) travel to Los Angeles to meet and interview athletes, coaches, and supporters all aiming to achieve their personal best and to discover what it takes to reach the World Games.
The opening webfilm, ‘Want to go to the Special Olympics World Games?’, was first posted back in June to introduce the duo,
who then go on to act as torchbearers at the Microsoft Campus,
to interview Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella,
and to bring the Special Olympics action and the people behind the Games to life through further vidoes.
The idea of ‘persona bests and individual goals’ sits at the heart of Microsoft’s Games campaign.
According to Microsoft it is: ‘The motivation that pushes them to be faster, better, stronger and the voice that says there’s no finishing line, only improvement. It’s the measurement that shows you’re making progress, increment by exhausting increment. Beating your personal best takes determination, strength, stamina and guts.’
In addition to hosts Sam and Mattie, Microsoft is also specifically following four athletes on their journey to achieve their personal best at the Special Olympic World Games: Andy Miyares (a 31-year-old US swimmer), Daniel Wolff (a 20-year-old Team GB runner), Matthew Pascoe (a 25-year-old Australian athlete) and Xing Le (a 24-year-old gymnast from China).
Microsoft is also activating with an ad campaign and with OOH work around host city Los Angeles, as well as an internal employee programme and other activity across its owned platforms and channels such as social media content.
Two @SpecialOlympics athletes inspire family and coaches, in pursuit of their personal best.
https://t.co/1jtrzq3Be6
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) August 5, 2015
Congratulations to China’s Xing Le, the winner of five gold medals in gymnastics at #LA2015!
https://t.co/LRXrD3z3nk
— Microsoft (@Microsoft) July 29, 2015
In addition to its webfilm-led campaign and its backing of individual athletes, Microsoft is also generating public donations for the Games by using its digital platforms and campaign content pieces to drive consumers to the online donation site at https://donate.specialolympics.org/secure/make-gift-change-life?ms=secureredir.
After all, the Special Olympics is powered by donations from individuals and companies around the world.
The company has committed to raising additional funds: pledging $1m over the life of the partnership in the spirit of Microsoft’s company-wide Giving Campaign.
Comment
Some may argue that this is a fresh and brave activation approach from Microsoft – it is certainly and admirable and ensures a great deal of synergy linking the sponsorship campaign and the property it is leveraging.
The event first began back in the 1950s when Eunice Kennedy Shriver saw how unjustly and unfairly people with intellectual disabilities were treated and had a vision to hold a summer day camp for young people with intellectual disabilities with the goal of learning what these children could do in sports and other activities.
The first full formulation of International Special Olympics Summer Games was held at Soldier Field in Chicago, USA in July 1968.
The Special Olympics World Summer Games 2015 sees 6,500 athletes, 3,000 coaches, 30,000 volunteers and 500,000 spectators gather in LA for what is this year’s largest sports and humanitarian event in the world.
The Games are being chaired by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama and are being broadcast on ESPN and ABC.
The Games are backed by around 100 corporate sponsors – from AstraZeneca to Y&R – and Microsoft is one of the most involved partners (along with founding partner Coca-Cola who’s own campaign was based around assembling a star-studded team to record a unified song for the 2015 World Games called ‘Reach Up’).
It was back in October 2014 that Microsoft announced its three-year, multi-million dollar partnership with the non-profit Special Olympics.
When the deal was officially announced, Microsoft held a soccer match on its Redmond campus between mixed teams including Special Olympics Play Unified athletes from Roosevelt High School and Microsoft employees, with Seattle Sounders FC legends Roger Levesque, Kasey Keller, Taylor Graham and Michael Morris appearing as coaches.
At the heart of the relationship is the IT giant’s programme to reinvent the Games’ core systems – helping create the long term strategy for technology empowering their organization, providing software and hardware, and specifically supporting the 2015 World Summer Games in Los Angeles along with the 2017 World Winter Games in Austria.
These range from the Azure-based games management system, supplying 800 Surface tablets and 1,200 Lumia phones which will be used to track all events at the 2015 World Games in Los Angeles and to connecting volunteers across multiple venues.
‘Our company is about reinventing productivity, to allow people to achieve more,’ explains says Jeff Hansen, general manager of Microsoft Brand Studio.
‘If you think about the Special Olympics and their mission to celebrate the achievements of people with intellectual disabilities, you understand that we couldn’t be more aligned.’
‘The Special Olympics’ goal of creating a better world by fostering the acceptance and inclusion of all people is something we believe in here at Microsoft,’ adds Lisa Brummel Microsoft’s executive vice president of Human Resources.
‘I am thrilled about our partnership with the Special Olympics over the next few years and our opportunity to contribute both technology and financial support to help them run their organization.’
‘Our partnership with Microsoft is going to enable us to leap frog into the next universe—and execute on our mission in a much more powerful way,’ explains Special Olympics CEO Janet Froetscher.
‘We’re so excited. This is going to change our world.’
Links
Microsoft Special Olympics Website:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/specialolympics
Microsoft Twitter:
Microsoft Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Microsoft
Microsoft Instagram:
https://instagram.com/microsoft
Special Olympics Website:
http://www.specialolympics.org/
Coca-Cola Special Olympics Partnership:
http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/stories/sustainability/community/a-special-bond-with-Special-Olympics/
