Microsoft Slice of Kevin

In danger of not achieving a positive metric on the internal Microsoft scorecard for the company's web browser, Internet Explorer (IE), category, Porter Novelli and Microsoft New Zealand knew something drastic needed to be done. In order to achieve a positive score, we needed to increase market share of IE by three percent – that equates to approximately 90,000 new people using IE! 

We tapped into the knowledge that Kiwis are highly competitive and would get actively involved in a campaign if they could see an immediate benefit – in this case, daily Visa Prezzy card prizes.

The campaign centred on a webslice that went bold when active. Consumers were required to download the webslice and sign up using Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) as their primary web browser. Daily prize windows were opened and closed at random, and each day we gave away a $100 Visa Prezzy card to the person who managed to click the webslice every time it was activated.

We created a fictional character, Explorer Kev, to be the face of the competition and drive the campaign via social media. This character had a uniquely Kiwi persona and catch phrase of “Cow-milking bachelor from the Waikato, champion beer drinker, Chiefs supporter, lover of ladies, tech geek and avid Twitterer”. He was free to comment (and give hints) on the competition, IE8, current affairs and life in New Zealand.

The campaign was highly successful with the IE market share skyrocketing passed the three percent target after just three weeks! Explorer Kev has an actively involved online community and has been used for several other Microsoft campaigns, such as the launch of Windows Phone 7, Office 2010, and more recently, IE9 and the announcement of the Rugby World Cup 2011 sponsorship.

Porter Novelli team: Sarah Rutherford, Natalie Benning and Bill Rundle