Azure Lab Services - Creative Storytelling That Clarifies a Powerful but Misunderstood Product
Helping Microsoft Show the World What a “Lab” Can Really Be
Microsoft Azure Lab Services is a flexible cloud platform that allows organizations to quickly set up secure, ready‑to‑use virtual labs for education, development, testing, training, and hackathons. The service handles all infrastructure management — spinning up virtual machines, scaling resources, managing access, and integrating with platforms like Microsoft Teams and Canvas LMS — making it easy for educators, administrators, and students to focus on learning and experimentation rather than setup and maintenance
But despite its power, Azure Lab Services struggled with a perception problem: most customers didn’t understand the full breadth of what the product could do. Microsoft asked Watts Media to help shift that narrative through clear, human‑centered storytelling.
Business Challenge
A Product With Endless Possibilities — and Limited Awareness
Azure Lab Services can support:
Virtual computer labs for classrooms
Development and testing environments
Hackathons and training sessions
Proof‑of‑concept experimentation
Custom VM templates for specialized workloads
The platform is designed for administrators, educators, and students, each with different needs and levels of technical expertise.
But customers often assumed the product was only for STEM or high‑performance computing. Microsoft needed to broaden that perception and show that anyone - from art students to business analysts - could use Azure Lab Services to create, collaborate, and innovate.
This made the project a natural fit for our Brand Storytelling approach.
Creative Challenge
Show That Azure Lab Services Isn’t Just for “Tech People”
Microsoft wanted a story that:
Highlighted the platform’s versatility
Showed real‑world users across diverse fields
Made the concept of a “lab” feel universal and inviting
Avoided technical jargon while still honoring the product’s capabilities
The challenge was to make a cloud‑based virtualization platform feel human, creative, and accessible.
Our Solution
Reframing the Lab as a Place for Everyone
Watts built the narrative around a simple but powerful idea:
A lab is any place where people create, collaborate, and make breakthroughs.
To bring this to life, we:
Introduced viewers to a wide range of users — educators, designers, developers, students, and researchers
Showed how Azure Lab Services supports everything from classroom instruction to large‑scale training labs
Used motion design and visual metaphors to make abstract cloud concepts feel tangible
Reinforced the emotional core of a lab: curiosity, experimentation, and progress
This approach aligned naturally with our Animation & Motion Design work, allowing us to visualize the product’s capabilities without overwhelming the audience with technical detail.
The Outcome
The final film helped Microsoft:
Increase awareness of Azure Lab Services’ flexibility and ease of use
Reach new audiences beyond traditional STEM fields
Clarify the platform’s value for education, training, and experimentation
Strengthen the product’s positioning as a universal lab environment for anyone with an idea to explore
By grounding the story in human creativity rather than cloud infrastructure, Watts helped Azure Lab Services reclaim the meaning of the word “lab” — and expand its reach in the process.
