For Those Who Do: Make the Tool’s Role Visible

Read the campaign story

Lenovo’s marketing-leader interview dates the rollout of For Those Who Do to May 2011. The platform placed people and their activities ahead of technology as a status object. The interview identifies Saatchi & Saatchi and Mindshare in global roles, with a separate India digital partner. Those assignments are not assumed to cover every later execution.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s 2012 Seize the Night account describes a longer film and a shorter trailer, connecting several participants’ tasks through an Ultrabook. That work is treated as an extension of the same platform, not a new case based on the product or film length. The sources document intent and production, not an independently measured effect on sales, creative ability or productivity.

Editorial interpretation: an activity can give a product specification a reason to matter. A computing task becomes easier to understand when the audience sees what someone is attempting, what the tool contributes and what the person still has to decide. This is a different question from whether a device looks desirable. The campaign’s useful strategic tension is between a broad invitation to act and a sufficiently precise account of how the technology helps.

Editorial interpretation: a group story can make several product uses feel connected rather than presenting an unrelated feature list. Each participant needs a distinct contribution that the audience can follow. Spectacular editing may create energy, but it can also conceal the causal handoff. An educational adaptation should therefore separate the excitement of the film from any claim that ordinary users can reproduce the activity or obtain the same result.

Start with the task before choosing the feature

Write down what the user is trying to accomplish in ordinary language. Identify the obstacle, the relevant product capability and the work that remains with the person. Avoid retrofitting every feature into the story simply because it appears in the specification sheet. A small team can demonstrate one useful operation with more clarity than a montage of many impressive but unexplained activities. Test whether viewers can describe the task without repeating the campaign line.

Make collaboration understandable at each handoff

Show what one participant provides to the next and what must be checked before the work continues. The technology may support the exchange without being its sole cause. Give collaborators appropriate credit and avoid implying that a fast edit proves a fast real-world workflow. A simple diagram or annotated sequence can expose dependencies that an energetic film leaves out. The audience should understand why each person appears, not merely recognise that a team was involved.

Keep an invitation to act free of status pressure

People have different resources, abilities and reasons for using technology. Do not imply that ownership proves ambition or that choosing a quieter activity means someone is less capable. Offer an achievable starting point using available tools, including a non-purchase route where appropriate. Evaluate whether the message clarifies a practical option or makes people feel they must buy a device to qualify as creative, productive or sufficiently committed to their interests.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: an adult community writing group could compare a feature-led page with an original task-led storyboard showing how members combine three fictional paragraphs into a shared newsletter. Use the same ordinary computer functions and explain the human review at each handoff. Keep the exercise offline, use synthetic text and make no claim about a particular device’s speed or suitability.

Measure accurate understanding of the task, the tool’s contribution and the remaining human decisions. Separate appreciation of the story from assumptions about productivity, purchase intent or personal ambition.

Stop if the story implies that a product guarantees achievement, makes non-owners feel excluded or encourages imitation of cinematic stunts.

• Create matched accessible prototypes using original text and simple diagrams.
• Show one useful tool action and one decision that the people must still make.
• Offer a paper-based version so participation does not depend on buying or owning equipment.