Microsoft

Inspiring girls into tech careers

Ogilvy PR has built a strong relationship with Microsoft that stretches back almost to the turn of the century. This covers everything from B2B, corporate and technology PR through brand marketing and employee engagement to digital content strategy, development and amplification.

Our best work focuses on big societal issues, like the technology skills shortage that threatens to be a very serious problem for Australia’s national economy. It doesn’t help that girls and young women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects. Microsoft is committed to helping solve this problem.

To coincide with International Women’s Day and the launch of Captain Marvel, Microsoft Store ran a series of interactive workshops during school holidays for girls aged 12-18. It partnered with Tap Tap Comics to develop co-branded Captain Marvel assets including a hero video, event page, infographics and traffic ads to generate awareness.

Then it ran interactive coding and animation workshops using Microsoft technology, with the week-long schedule also including a media event. We had 130 aspiring coders and animators attend the sessions and they all left with a range of gifts in a Marvel swag bag.

The campaign secured widespread coverage in mainstream and parenting titles including the Fairfax metro mastheads, which ran a comprehensive piece about women in STEM that commended Microsoft’s work in tackling the issue. The campaign reached 16.3 million people.