In 2023, Unisys, a global IT solutions company, celebrated its 150th anniversary. The company wanted to mark the milestone moment to inspire pride among its employees. But celebrating being in business for a century and a half can be tricky when you’re in the technology industry, and “legacy” can be a four-letter word.
Electing to mark the moment with a short timeline bridging our past to our future, reflecting on how we’ve been driving tech innovation for 150 years, reinforcing our brand values with our internal and external audiences, and focusing on turning points that have shaped us set the tone for the brief.
Our goal was to bring to life the idea that we create one breakthrough after another and that, after 150 years, we’re just getting started.
Website visitors who go to our About Unisys page can view the video as part of our company timeline. Watchers will see how we went from our early days as the inventors of the QWERTY keyboard (still used today on smartphones!), the first commercial typewriter, to engineers of today’s digital workplace. We built the bridge from the first adding machines and point-of-sale cash registers we designed to how we process billions of digital payments for financial institutions today.
Using a clever from/to copywriting motif, we showcased how our early navigational and aviation instruments laid the groundwork for the AI and quantum computing-fueled logistics solutions we offer now.
Covering each of our business units, we found historical examples and modern parallels to ground the video with a sense of continuous forward momentum and discovery. Even today, in our 151st year, the video is a core component of our recruiting and onboarding talent strategies.
The final execution demonstrated that we could deftly lower our center of gravity to walk the tightrope from our storied past to our bright future and inspire viewers along the way to break through with Unisys.
