MTh's Grady Hall brings the present face to face with the future in a new campaign for Microsoft Private Cloud via Deutsch NY. Featuring scenarios where present-day technology professionals are visited by their future selves, the campaign launched this week with “Elevator,” the first of a three-spot campaign.

When a suited professional in a standard office hallway is approached by his future self emerging out of an intensely bright portal, he is understandably shocked, then excited, as he understands how choosing Microsoft’s Private Cloud solutions today will put him, and his company, on the path to the utopian technological future world he glimpses through the portal before him.

“We went all out when we designed the future world as this ridiculously advanced utopia,” said Hall. “Rather than rely on concept art, we brought in architects and product designers and had them design their version of the buildings and robots in the spot.  We probably went too far, giving the robots names, and arguing about propulsion systems and materials. The goal was to show a future that represents the possibilities of Microsoft’s technology today.”

The portal itself is also a key element, as it serves to bridge not only the present and future worlds, but also the ‘selves’ of the protagonist.  “The relationship between these characters – or this character, actually – was important. The expectation is that if your future self was coming back, it’s not something you’re going to just take in stride, even if he’s just there to congratulate you.  We all wanted the characters to be grounded in their own times, letting any humor come naturally from the inherent conflict between these realities,” concluded Hall.

Hall designed the spot to create a striking visual contrast between the neutral-toned office environment and the pulsating, light-generating portal and future world. Mirada handled the visual effects, creating CG versions of the architectural and product designs, animating robots to give them more personality, creating the gestural user interfaces and the pulsating portal itself.