Microsoft’s First National Ad During the Super Bowl Is a Tear-Jerker
Microsoft’s first national ad in the Super Bowl is a tear-jerker starring former NFL player Steve Gleason, now battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Mr. Gleason played for the New Orleans Saints and became locally famous (there’s a statue of him outside the Superdome) for blocking a punt in the Saints first home game after Hurricane Katrina. He now uses a Surface Pro tablet with eye-tracking technology to speak.
Microsoft is big ad spender — $1.23 billion in the U.S. in 2012, according to Ad Age Datacenter — but the company has never bought a national ad during the big game.
