Brand Partnership + Thought Leadership
Microsoft
Turning AI research into trusted conversations about the future of work — a four-part LinkedIn campaign bringing the 2026 Microsoft Work Trend Index to an Australian professional audience, in partnership with Microsoft and McCann.
Original LinkedIn content pieces
LinkedIn News feature
LinkedIn Editorial Spotlight notification
Live-event conversation with the National AI Centre
The challenge
AI research can generate valuable insight, but reports do not create change on their own. Organisations and individuals need help understanding what the data means in practice for their work, teams, leadership habits and future skills. Microsoft's 2026 Work Trend Index explored the evolving relationship between people, AI and work. The opportunity was to bring those ideas to life in a credible, relevant voice — one that could connect global research with the day-to-day realities of Australian professionals, leaders, founders and teams.
What Forestlyn did
Forestlyn created a four-part LinkedIn thought-leadership campaign, developed in partnership with Microsoft and McCann. We interpreted key themes from the 2026 Microsoft Work Trend Index for a future-of-work audience and created four original pieces of LinkedIn content across static, carousel, video and newsletter formats. We combined research-led insights with personal experience running an AI-enabled podcast and content business, used practical questions and conversation-led calls to action to encourage audience participation, and connected the report's themes to a live fireside conversation moderated by Lucy Lin with Lee Hickin, Executive Director of the National AI Centre and former Microsoft CTO. Campaign content spanned an image post on AI, work and the 2026 Work Trend Index; a carousel on using AI to scale a podcast business; a video on humans and AI working together; a newsletter on AI adoption to AI absorption; and the live fireside conversation on AI adoption and the future of work.
The result
The campaign generated thousands of LinkedIn views and extended the Work Trend Index beyond a report launch into an ongoing conversation about how people and organisations can work with AI. The content demonstrated that the value of AI is not only about access to tools — it also depends on human judgement, leadership, organisational culture and repeatable ways of working. One campaign post drew on Microsoft's findings that 86% of AI users treat AI output as a starting point, while 50% identify quality control as a critical human skill. The video content explored the idea of AI as a colleague, citing figures showing 58% of AI users are producing work they could not have produced a year earlier, while 68% of Australian workers worry about falling behind if they do not adapt. Lucy's newsletter perspective on AI absorption was selected as a LinkedIn News story, “Absorb AI into work”, described by LinkedIn News as a call for organisations to build repeatable workflows, shared standards and institutional know-how around AI. The video post was also selected for a special Spotlight notification by the LinkedIn Editors Australia team, extending the campaign to additional LinkedIn members.
Outcomes
- Four-part LinkedIn campaign across static, carousel, video and newsletter formats
- Thousands of LinkedIn views and an ongoing conversation beyond the report launch
- Featured as a LinkedIn News story, “Absorb AI into work”
- Selected for a LinkedIn Editors Australia Spotlight notification
- Live fireside conversation moderated with the Executive Director of the National AI Centre
More work