Microsoft's New IE 10 Ad Hopes to Turn IE Haters Into IE Lovers

Have you seen the latest Internet Exploder, I mean, Internet Explorer 10 advertisement? If not, you need to check it out (video above). The video features an “Internet troll,” trolling blogs, Twitter, and Facebook saying that IE sucks, to which, the Internet Explorer social accounts reply back and troll the troll. It’s quite amusing and fun to watch.

This is a really well done commercial. Instead of showing how flashy IE 10 is (and it is much better in my experience), it’s almost issuing an apology for how bad previous versions of Internet Explorer actually were and in doing so promises better things to come. In fact, the commercials ends on a statement, “Progress. Comebacks come in many shapes and sizes.”

Now, let’s not forget we are talking about a web browser that went from approximately 80% to 50% of browser market share in the last ten years. That’s quite the drop. As of October, the browser market share for both IE8 and IE9 combined accounts for around 45% of the market, which is approximately a 30% lead over Google Chrome 22, which holds 15% of the market.

Despite the fact that Microsoft is still in the lead, it’s going to be a tough battle. Competing against Google Chrome and Firefox, especially with the success that Google Chrome has been having, isn’t going to be easy. And even though IE is installed by default on every Windows computer, when Google.com is the home page for many, it doesn’t take long for Google’s influence to entice people to download Chrome.

Nonetheless, I think this commercial is effective. It’s trying to get people to consider giving IE 10 a shot even if you hate IE, and if Microsoft can get the people who have loathed the browser to try it (and like it), then that’s powerful. Those very people could turn into IE advocates and help promote Microsoft’s message that IE 10 is actually a good browser. Just think about that… IE 10 — a good browser.