Azure Direct x NFL
Azure Direct campaigns had always been efficient lower-funnel work: product shots, offers, static assets. This year we reimagined the entire program as a full-funnel brand campaign — built around a hero film, creator storytelling, and the real pressure developers live with every day. The result: the most historically performant direct campaign in the history of Azure, driving trial sign-ups to a three-year high.
- Role
- Creative Lead, Creators & Social
- Discipline
- Integrated Sponsorship
- Location
- Redmond · New York · League cities
- Duration
- Full 2025 season
Direct response is safe, but it doesn't build the brand. We had to prove Azure could move from static lower-funnel assets into a real cultural conversation — one that made people feel something about a cloud platform without ever losing the business objective.
How we got there.
- 01
Reframed the brief: developers aren't just decision-makers, they're people operating under real pressure. That pressure isn't so different from the pressure elite athletes face — so we built the campaign around that parallel.
- 02
Told real stories with real people. We shot with the Minnesota Vikings and the developer team behind their Python app, plus developer business owners who could speak to the stakes honestly.
- 03
Built a full-funnel system from one idea: a brand film at the top, creator and social storytelling through the middle, and direct-response mechanics at the bottom — instead of three disconnected campaigns.
Concept through delivery across hero film, creator partnerships, paid social, and owned channels. We worked with the Vikings organization to capture authentic moments with their internal developers, then layered in creator storytelling that extended the narrative across platforms and formats.
- #1
- The most historically performant direct campaign in the history of Azure
- 3yr
- Drove Azure trial sign-ups to a three-year high
- 3-tier
- Brand film + creator + DR in one system
- NFL
- Real Vikings developers and business owners on camera
- Creative LeadKatie Walmsley
- CreativeIn-house + Hecho
- DirectionDave Meyers
- Production Co.Radical Media
- ClientMicrosoft Azure
Re-launching Excel →
