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Creativity Online

Rate the Ad: Microsoft: Office 2010: The Movie

The new Microsoft Office is cast in a spy film.

Published: Jul 15, 2009
Last week on Rate the Ad, we offered up the second Evian spot starring babies doing un-baby-like things. From BETC Euro RSCG, the 2009 efforts finds a gaggle of infants zipping around on roller skates amidst fly tunes from a boombox. The effort has garnered lots of online attention (and 6 million You Tube views). But we wanted to know, is this how Evian makes you feel? Are the babies made out of plastic? Did the army of babies concept warrant a reprise in the first place?

Most Adsters say they'll definitely remember the spot, though some needed a little help making the connection from rollerskating babies to Evian.

Calling the babies' plastic sheen memorable, commenter "josiejoe says, "Are they plastic looking? Sure. Did they make me laugh? Hell yah! Will I remember it and the brand it represented? Definitely! Is there or isn't there a connection to the Evian water? That's subjective, but the most important focus of any campaign is 'Will the audience remember it and the product it was tied to?' My opinion is YES."

Representing those who couldn't find the link to the bottled water brand, commenter "pasha" couldn't help but smirk: "Amusing yet lacking. I'd remember the ad I just wouldn't remember Evian. Babies = youth and vitality = Evian doesn't establish a strong connection. Cute, 'real' six- or eight-year-olds dancing may have proved to be a better option, if we must insist on following this path. Though, I do think that the first iteration was where it should have ended."

This week on Rate the Ad, we look at the trailer for the fake spy film Microsoft 2010: The Movie from director Dennis Liu (you might remember him from a past Rate the Ad for The Bird & The Bee: Again & Again or from Saatchi's new directors showcase at Cannes). The trailer introduces an action-packed flick full of the requisite interrogations, murder and global chaos, this time framed within the world of Office products. As for the plot, there's the murder of Office's personified paper clip Clippy—he's the one that pops up in the corner of Word or Office to give you "tips" when you may or may not really need them. There's also a rogue font on the loose--it's somewhere between Arial and Wingdings. GASP! The trailer also has all the other spy movie trimmings: a sultry lady villain, the tormented special agent, some people speaking French. Well, what do you think? Does it work? Can Word and Excel measure up to Jason Bourne? Can we call this a refreshing and novel way to promote office software? Is Microsoft getting any closer to cool? How does Liu do with actors instead of desktop apps? Share your thoughts, below.
16 Comments: By lokihsu July 15th, 2009 07:10:09 pm

Microsoft is closer with their video on recharging their Office 2010 product with an a funny, action packed video that actually branded to the product and idea.

Roller skating babies = Evian water? I don't think so.

By organ July 15th, 2009 08:04:38 pm

Still not quite there for me. Instead of taking the opportunity to break the mold with something sharp and original, they've just taken the most conservative idea and tried to make it look big.

By trippyhippy July 15th, 2009 10:22:31 pm

nice idea, though i doubt this trailer will get as viral as the evian video. Just not pushed as far it should have been in terms of humour, shock, surprise, i say, make it hilariously insanely funny and its got web sitcom potential

By dng July 15th, 2009 11:10:37 pm

really funny stuff. this is pretty damn entertaining for microsoft.

By Ksuji July 15th, 2009 11:13:50 pm

Okay, I think I got it now.

Push it far as you can in terms of humor/shock/surprise/hilariously insanely funny = babies

incidentally, also equals viral?

So you're saying if this ad used babies, it would go "viral"?


[ Bonus Question ]
How many campaigns out there have used babies?

By sharonl July 16th, 2009 12:09:32 am

i give it a thumbs up for sure. this is something different for microsoft.

By dkevin87 July 16th, 2009 12:24:02 am

i think this is really well written and directed. blows the crispin stuff away

By denmo July 16th, 2009 12:55:51 am

Gee golly, a commercial that's actually enjoyable/watchable... I especially like the hug, usually stuff like that doesn't make it into a corporate ad.

By fallon July 16th, 2009 02:08:26 am

I thought that was one of the lamest attempts at pushing a new product with the faux movie trailer I have EVER seen. Felt like watching a really bad company chirstmas video...but done with lots more money. Acting was terrible...did not even crack a smile.

By CiaoPaparazzi July 16th, 2009 07:24:47 am

Just like Office: bloated, overblown, inconsistent, expensive, and in general full of itself.

By jeffer July 16th, 2009 08:53:00 am

another attempt to make an elephant dance... clumsy. yes MS needs to get into the mind/experience of its users, but no this trailer won't get much attention or shift their slow lagging image.

By kann895 July 16th, 2009 08:54:21 am

i just watched this and... wow! wow! this is from microsoft?? this is a genius idea and really funny. maybe i'm a total geek nerd but i thought this was the best thing microsoft has done in a while. cinematic, sharply written, great acting, kudos to Dennis Liu. i'm not surprised it has 5 stars on youtube.

By peter kwan July 16th, 2009 09:37:57 am

you know what? big win for microsoft. Here's why. I didn't see a product mentioned at all in the gates seinfeld stuff, which wasn't even funny and confused a lot of people. The IE8 ads we watched last week freaked me out because there were people literally vomiting which is gross, and dean cain will always be superman. This is laugh out loud funny, that mentions the entire office suite. yes, it's hard to advertise software. but i didnt think good advertising from microsoft was possible until seeing this, and that's hard for me to admit because i'm a harsh critic.

By didonyc July 16th, 2009 02:31:03 pm

It absolutely works. It's creative, clever and memorable. It's an entertaining 2 minutes and 46 seconds but more important it creates a sense of excitement about something you use everyday, MS Office. I'm sure there are plenty of people in cubicles, working on their computers all over the world who dream of being a secret agent. This viral video delivers that secret fantasy. They knocked the ball out of the park: the direction is excellent, production values are high and the acting hits the mark. If this were a real movie I would want to see it.

By davidross July 16th, 2009 04:25:32 pm

someone has too much time on their hands.

By ScoBo July 16th, 2009 09:07:37 pm

It's a fun video and a great attempt to make Microsoft seem more relevant and fun, but it just looks like a well done YouTube or CollegeHumor.com video--some college student's film project. Have you seen the trailer for Titanic 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK_Jv4RIzpU) or The Font Conference (http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1823766)? It doesn't seem authentic enough to be an actual video produced by Microsoft. But then as I write that, I guess it does get spread around and increases awareness about the next version of Office coming out... It's probably doing it's job very well--produced by Microsoft or not.

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