• by Aaron Baar , September 28, 2015

Having launched a brand campaign showing that business services are less about the latest technology and more about making those technologies work together for business solutions, Xerox is looking to get a little more specific about exactly how it does the latter. 

With a series of short, 15-second commercials and print advertising, the company is showing the tactical side of its “Work can work better” brand strategy. The new spots show off the ways Xerox addresses specific industry issues (such as human resources, health care and transportation), while keeping the humorous spirit of its brand anthem ad alive. 

“The [first phase of the campaign] was pointing at common pain points, and showing that the solution is not the technology du jour, but how it all works together,” Barbara Basney, vice president of global brand content and media at Xerox, tells Marketing Daily. “This second phase is about giving more teeth to that message about what Xerox can deliver.”

While the “brand anthem” commercial followed a CEO through his day, encountering consultants, employees and ads referencing “the cloud,” the second round of spots depicts moments within different industries. One commercial, for instance, shows a husband and wife looking over vacation excursion options such as swimming with sharks and cliff-diving. As the woman suggests the more dangerous options, the husband checks his health insurance benefits portal on his mobile device. Another spot shows a man dialing a customer call center, and — expecting a long wait — running to the bathroom when he’s put on hold. The customer service rep picks up the line, much earlier than he expected, however. 

While the new commercials do not feature characters or many other elements from the brand anthem commercial, they do share the same DNA of humor and customer-oriented perspective, Basney says. (They also share a new stylized logo that splits the company’s “X”s into brackets and the “Work can work better” tagline.)

“We’re trying to bring to life the ‘Work can work better’ campaign, and there are many opportunities for that,” she says. “Every [spot] has a wink and a smile of insight that helps us convey that we get it.”

In addition to the video ads, print ads also take a customer-centric approach, showcasing how Xerox has helped hospital work better by sending patients home healthier, making dinner better by getting commuters home faster, and helping human resources work better by helping people manage their benefits better. The focus on helping the customer is meant to stand out among the often company-centric approach of most business-to-business advertising, Basney says. 

“We’re taking an ‘outside in’ approach, and looking at what’s needed by the customer,” she says. “It means I’m starting with an insight that’s about our customers.”

Xerox’s agencies for the campaign are Y&R for print and video advertising, VML for digital and MEC for Media, Basney says.