The assignment was to do a rich and inclusive portrait and lifestyle photoshoot featuring a day in the life of real sales, finance and operations professionals for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Product Marketing. The set included portraits and lifestyle storytelling as well as artifacts. The goal was to fill gaps that existed in the brand library of women, vision impaired (blind in our case), and people of color in leadership roles within these specific industries.

Our why: What lies at the heart of the Microsoft Cloud isn’t complicated code or powerful microchips or massive datacenters—it’s human possibility. It’s real people using Microsoft technology to bring their best ideas to life. And because this technology is used by people all over the world, we seek out and welcome diversity in our photo shoots, both in front of and behind the camera. The resulting imagery is candid, honest, and—whenever possible—unretouched. Crooked smiles and deep laugh lines are portrayed with honesty and warmth. Moments of deep concentration are depicted with clarity and compassion. When creating photos for Microsoft Cloud, we remember that the Microsoft Cloud isn’t, ultimately, a technology story—it’s a people story.  And our photography must capture that in all its unfiltered glory.

Focusing on real people, representing inclusion within industry. The creative approach was to photograph specific scenarios in support of existing marketing messages. Creative focus on normalizing women leading, speaking. The entire cast and crew represented inclusion. Each set up was intentional to draw viewers to the right talent, ensuring the lead was clear no matter who was taller. With characters defined, actions were predetermined and we shot it as an action sequence to be able to have full storylines for each scenario shot as stills. Budget did not include b-roll, so we focused on scripts and storytelling to capture the full story from each role's perspective, a day in their life.

A+ photo library that is incredibly well received and used in company-wide for brand and marketing across North America. The library won an internal Microsoft Diversity and Inclusion award for best in class marketing assets.