Into the blue

Dell Blue teamed up with The Mill to create a series of eye-catching adverts that captured the essence of their new computers

“THROUGH A COMBINATION OF VISUALLY SOPHISTICATED AND CONCEPTUAL ANIMATIONS, WE ARRIVED AT A SOLUTION” Joel Davis, executive creative director, Dell

Dell’s internal creative agency, Dell Blue, recently created ad campaigns for three of the computing giant’s latest products: the Optiplex 7071 Tower, a premium business desktop designed for maximum VR performance; the Optiplex 7070, a new form factor providing a fully modular desktop experience; and the 5300/5400 Dell Latitude 2-in-1 with Chrome Enterprise OS. Dell Blue partnered with award-winning VFX company The Mill to produce captivating CG spots for campaigns that span broadcast, online and social.

“The Optiplex and Latitude product videos we worked on with The Mill were the first of their kind,” says Michelle Gillespie, senior manager, commercial product launch at Dell. “Dell Technologies introduced a new form factor in the Optiplex line and a new partnership with Google in the Latitude line featuring Chrome OS. Capturing the essence of these new pieces of technology was essential to their introduction into the marketplace. The Mill and Dell Blue did this flawlessly through their CGI executions, bringing the concept boards to life.”

For the Optiplex 7070 Dell Blue crafted The Unexpected PC, an ad that illustrates the 7070’s billing as the world’s most flexible commercial desktop solution. The scene uses a combination of 3D animation and illustrative motion graphics to outline the product design and modularity that makes the 7070 the perfect choice for professionals who want to create a custom workspace with one device. The 3D simulations were dialled up to introduce the Latitude 5300, the world’s first and most powerful twoin-one Chromebook Enterprise, created in partnership with Google.

According to executive creative director Joel Davis, for most Optiplex product launches, his team executes productivityfocused campaigns and content geared at Dell Optiplex’s desk-centric users. Optiplex 7071 had a different, highly targeted audience in mind: educators and professionals who need a powerful machine to create immersive virtual reality as a presentation and teaching tool. Thus, the campaign called for a more robust messaging strategy.

VR Core is Dell Blue and The Mill’s spellbinding visualisation of what’s virtually possible with the Optiplex 7071. It depicts the tower bursting open to reveal its intricate, high-tech inner workings hovering in 3D space. The scattered components then reassemble into a series of icons representing the specific industries that the 7071 model was designed for – healthcare, education and retail – before converging back into the tower.

“The VR Core spot was by far the most challenging of the campaign, yet the most creatively rewarding for our team,” says Davis. “We not only had to present the 7071 as an attractive choice but also show our target audience the scale of components that make it powerful enough to run immersive VR experiences. Through a combination of visually sophisticated and conceptual animations, we arrived at a solution that shows exactly what the product is and who it’s for, while bringing it to life within the Dell voice and style of previous campaigns.”

Dell Blue commissioned The Mill to execute the VFX portion of the production. “With a simple idea, we knew the visual execution of this would be the key to succeeding creatively,” concludes Davis. “Finding a partner like The Mill to execute highly technical 3D simulations while making them look premium was paramount. Their expertise and artistry really show in this campaign and we enjoyed our collaboration with them.”