• ClickZ, Wednesday, December 20, 2006 11 AM

Microsoft is making a strategic shift to push Microsoft's Office Live to small and mid-sized businesses. Its new marketing campaign features a guy in a gorilla suit who is trying to start his own business and talk about the benefits of Microsoft's software. The online ads use floating video technology from Rovion's InPerson platform. The software giant decided to go with floating after traditional online ads didn't work.

"We do a lot of marketing investments with keyword search and banners, and what you notice over time is unless you can put something very interactive and compelling, you're not seeing the conversation rates that we saw a few years ago," says Michael Schultz, U.S. business and marketing lead for Microsoft Office Live.

"When you look at... a spokesperson appearing on top of all the other content on the page ... it brings the third dimension to the Internet," adds Rovion CEO Len Ostroff, CEO of Rovion.

Or, it annoys the hell out of you if you're busy, your audio's on and a floating gorilla starts to talk.

Read the whole story at ClickZ »