With their tagline reading ‘Smarter Technology for All’, it would make sense for Lenovo to create an entire department dedicated to ensuring technology is accessible to all people. That’s exactly what they did when creating their Product Diversity Office in 2020.
The department is designed to be a hub for ensuring future technology is accessible to all people. These goals are only made possible through awareness and promotion, allowing more product development teams to use them as a resource even earlier in the design process.
This need for awareness was a huge motivator behind the making of this video.
Excited to create some of the first content for a team and department that is relatively new but has such a bright future, our team was happy to get rolling on pre-production planning.
We worked closely with Ada Lopez, the head of the PDO. A driven, approachable and authentic leader, she was busy throughout the pre-production process with the everyday operations of the PDO. Once we worked closely to understand their needs with this video piece, she trusted us beautifully with the creative process. We also collaborated with her colleague, Monica Wolff, to get the absolute best locations to create the most impactful piece possible.
This included Lenovo’s Design Lab and their Executive Briefing Center (EBC). The design lab in particular is extremely exclusive as it’s where they design their new products. While a challenge to get access to, it made all the difference visually for the piece.
This project also involved an extensive cast and casting process. Knowing the diversity was an extremely important value of Lenovos and the PDO, we ensured that all decisions reflected this.
This included featuring inclusivity advocates in the casting process as well. Shaholly Ayers is a spokesperson for Lenovo. Our team handles all logistics to fly her out from the West Coast so she could participate as the main spokesperson.
We also cast Raleigh native and Ms. Wheelchair America 2023 Ali Ingersol to deliver speaking lines direct to camera.
With a great cast and intentional crew, we created this video at Lenovo’s campus over a 2-day period.
In post-production, the graphic elements added to the piece were a huge part of the creative direction. Big and bold, they drove home the messaging and goals of the Product Diversity Office.
The high-energy finished piece explains what the PDO does and why their work is so important, encouraging those in the product development space to reach out to the PDO to vet their technology for inclusivity standards that benefit all users.
