The Can't Hold Us Outlook

I've been in marketing for almost 10 years. I never see ads the same way the public do. But when I see a great ad, I give it praise. This is actually the first ad that got me to write a blog about it! 

This is the way I think: I often separate the product with the ad. I use Hotmail. I use Outlook. I use Microsoft. But I also use other products. Every product has it's own competitive advantage. Am I the target market? Is the ad speaking to me? Hell yeah! 

Do you still have your Hotmail.com account? Let's face it. Many people have moved on from Hotmail and Yahoo! to Gmail. When I was living in France, my friends used Hotmail more than Yahoo!, but when Gmail came by and did the whole "you need an invitation to get a Gmail account" everyone moved on. I think Hotmail is great. I don't see myself retiring it anytime soon. I've used Lotus Notes, different WebMail UIs but so far Microsoft Outlook is the easiest to use. I'm so happy to see that Microsoft has revamped Outlook that I actually enjoy writing emails from my Hotmail account. 

Now let's look at the ad. Before you read any further, please watch the ad. I've been seeing it everyday because I'm on Hulu. You know how you leave your TV or do something else when ads come on? I've probably seen it over 50 times but every time it comes on I actually still watch it.  So you may ask , what aspects caught my attention? 

The ad speaks to me. I am the target market. Perfect targeting and segmentation from you Microsoft marketing folks. 

I use email. I send updates. I use Microsoft products, but I also use other products. From the ad we see what Outlook has to offer. What makes them special? What makes them different? What new things can you do with it? 

I can relate to the characters. Deliveryman by day and stuntman by night? That's most of us. Among current 20-40 years olds you will rarely find someone who is a bank teller and only a bank teller forever. You may encounter an investment banker who is also a DJ, an accountant who is also a photographer, or a school teacher who has a food truck business. Put in a hovercraft in there and we're in business.

Empowerment. It's telling us we can be who want to be and we can share our success with others. We now live in such a social and global community that information can be shared in a matter of seconds. Throughout my life I have lived in the Philippines, Hong Kong, France, Hungary and now the United States. I have friends everywhere. With social media I can easily share my updates and accomplishments with friends and family, and it feels amazing to read their responses and give you words of encouragement. 

Catchy and relevant soundtrack. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Ray Dalton did good. I think this was an amazing collaboration. They put up a catchy tune, and relevant lyrics that also targets the same audience as Microsoft Outlook. Definitely gets your attention. Here's the official video for "Can't Hold Us". 

Right moment, right time. Sure, the concept is great, the characters are perfect, the music is empowering. But does it all work together? YES. The full ad is 60 seconds, and has been re-tweaked for 30 and 15 second placements. When I see the shortened ads, I found myself searching for a longer ad and when I found the 60 seconds one I didn't find it to be too long. It was not dragging and it was able to tell the story and pass on the message to the audience. I admit I was very entertained too and was bopping my head. 

Call to action? Yes. Since the ad popped up in February, the ad has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube alone. Did more people sign up to Outlook after that? Microsoft hasn't said anything yet. Although in early February the Redmond giant reached 60 million subscribers in 6 months with the launch of Outlook.com, and expects to spend up to $90 million for the 3-month advertising campaign. 
 
I can't wait to see what Microsoft comes up with after this. This ad is tough to beat. Great job to their ad agency Deutsch. 

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