During the pandemic, Microsoft’s internal systems and own customer stories formed the core of its marketing as it fended off new competitors and avoided the ‘big tech’ designation. 

Why it matters

Microsoft’s position is to build technology that helps other companies increase their “tech intensity” by collaborating and building together – in the pandemic year, Microsoft used its own experiences and those of its customers to articulate that in its marketing.

Takeaways

• Once the dominant tech giant, the company’s place as a trusted business partner helped it sidestep criticisms of “big tech”.
• Internal teams are a beta testing lab for...