Short: IE9 ad explores a more beautiful web

Microsoft today released a new TV ad for Internet Explorer 9 to illustrate a more beautiful web. Even though the ad is for a browser, it’s also the big break for the UK sing-songwriter Alex Clare who Microsoft dedicated nearly the entire press release to promote. The ad is directed by the talented Keith Rivers (who has produced some great Microsoft ads like Windows + Andrew Belle and The Future of Technology).

In short, I think it’s a good attempt. It shows off the cool technologies and features of IE9 with nice visuals and audio, but doesn’t really strike any emotional chords like Microsoft intended it to. Compared to Google Chrome’s Dear Sophie which I would argue is the best ad for a browser to date, Google turned the browser into a life story whereas Microsoft is still trying to sell the feature list.

The ad will be screened in the United States, United Kingdom and German markets. A 30-40 minute documentary of the ad with behind the scenes footage is said to be released in a few weeks.

15 insightful thoughts

  1. Oh, Microsoft is teasing a new layout for SkyDrive (nearly at the end of the video).

  2. ie9 is good, but firefox is BETTER.
    i don’t understand why doesn’t microsoft adopt a more vigilant upgrade for ie to adopt the newest technology and create a better development environment for addon developers. i like mouse gestures so much, this single reason will push me away from ie.

  3. Is it me or is IE9 hiccuping when downloading files that have parameters in the query string? The download dialog shows with the filename looking like “image_jpg?download&psid=1”, and it doesn’t download the whole file. Can’t cancel the download manager afterwards.

    This has been the case on three seperate computers. To test, try uploading an image to skydrive.com, then redownloading it in IE9. I tried reporting through the IE bug what-cha-ma-call-it, but gave up after two failed attempts.

    I use the browser daily, and that’s my only complaint.

    FYI, Win 7 64-bit with IE9 64-bit

    1. Try using the default, 32-bit version of the browser. The 64-bit is only really in there for a few edge cases and for compatibility.

  4. Long, your website is listed as harmful if viewed from Opera.
    On opening it there is displayed “Malware Warning” (info provided by Yandex).
    To be fair when i ignored warning Microsoft Security Essentials found some virus that was using java.

  5. Yeah, IE, whatever.

    What I really want to know is what’s the car (0;34)? It looks like VR Rox 520 but I can’t find anything for it. Is it a video game construction or is there a real car?

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