MICROSOFT REAL PEOPLE
The Ask: Show why creatives should choose Microsoft Surface over category favorites
Microsoft wanted to highlight the Surface inking feature — the ability to write directly on the device while maintaining laptop functionality. The challenge was larger than demonstrating a feature. The question became: What would make someone choose Surface over a MacBook ecosystem already favored by creative audiences?
What I Found: The audience wasn’t choosing tools. They were choosing workflows.
Many creatives were already using multiple devices to support different parts of their process — laptops for productivity and tablets for sketching, note-taking, and ideation.
Surface created an opportunity to combine those experiences.
At the same time, culture was embracing the rise of the multi-hyphenate creative: people building identities across careers, passions, and communities rather than fitting into one role.
The Reframe: Surface wasn’t for trend followers. It was for people building their own way of working.
We shifted away from competing directly with Apple and focused on a different type of creative.
Someone practical. Independent. Multi-dimensional.
A person who valued flexibility and function over what everyone else was using.
The Insight: Multi-hyphenate lives need multi-purpose tools
We cast Tony the Teacher — an educator, writer, community advocate, and creative — whose life naturally reflected the audience we wanted to reach.
His story created opportunities to demonstrate the product authentically while showing how Surface fit into a real creative life.
The feature became secondary.
The lifestyle became the proof.
The Idea: Build a Real People campaign around modern creative identity
My partner and I developed the campaign concept and extended it across broadcast and digital experiences.
The work expanded beyond television into emerging social formats, including Facebook Canvas, Pinterest, and supporting content designed for creative audiences exploring inspiration and workflow ideas.
The campaign used product moments, storytelling, and platform-specific experiences to reinforce the flexibility of Surface.
My Role: Concept development + creative leadership
My partner and I concepted the campaign, aligned internal teams around the creative direction, and developed production materials to bring the work to life. We created shot lists, sketches, production decks, and storytelling frameworks that guided execution across the campaign ecosystem.
The Outcome: One of the most remembered Surface campaigns of the era
The work expanded into a broad content system across broadcast and digital channels and generated unexpected engagement, including audience-created memes and organic cultural response.
The campaign helped establish Surface as more than a product feature story — it became a reflection of modern creative identity.
