Microsoft launched its global “Get It Done Day” campaign Thursday, which aims to spark a conversation about new ways of getting work done away from the office. The global campaign promotes Microsoft Office 365, a subscription service for buying Microsoft Office software services.
Microsoft Canada kicked off its campaign by hosting an art installation by artist Justin Broadbent. In Toronto’s financial district, Broadbent destroyed old desks with a sledgehammer. He then created art pieces from the material, with the aim of demonstrating how “ditching the desk” can allow people to get great work done in places other than the office.
“We’re trying to help people understand that they don’t need to be tied to their desk or stuck in their office to be productive and get amazing work done,” said Gareth Oystryk, office product manager at Microsoft Canada.
“We’ve shifted from selling desktop software that you buy and install on your PC and just leave it there for several years until a new release comes out, to this subscription service,” said Oystryk. “We’re now able to deploy updates and new pieces of technology a lot more frequently.”
To make customers aware of the continual updates, Microsoft “will make some noise” twice a year, with events like Get It Done Day. “We’ve chosen to pick two times a year where we reflect back on what have we done in the past several months in terms of adding more value to the service and then sharing the news with customers,” said Oystryk.
On Get It Done Day, Microsoft employees around the world were told to avoid the office and work from exciting, interesting and unusual locations. “We want to practice what we preach,” said Oystryk.
