Microsoft Teams goes big with ad at NFL

The NFL playoffs are among the biggest events in US sporting history and will also be shown in the UK, France and Germany. That explains why Microsoft has spent an undisclosed, but clearly massive, amount of money on screening a 30-second ad for Microsoft Teams.

One would think that Microsoft would showcase one of its bigger products, like Windows or Office, during such a big event, especially when there’s so much money being spent on the ad. It suggests that Teams may very well be a money-maker for Microsoft, which is why they’ll be pushing it to such a wide audience. Of course, the metaphor of teamwork ties in strongly, too, during a sporting event.

At the launch of Teams nearly four years ago, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said: “Just like Outlook brought together email, contacts, calendar, into this one magical user experience scaffolding that changed how we work, Microsoft Teams will bring together chat, meetings, notes, Office, Planner, Power BI and a host of other ecosystem-developed extensions and applications to help teams get work done. “

The ad showcases instant team meeting organisation, background blur on video chats, a digital whiteboard that’s shared during virtual meetings, and group chat functionality.