Microsoft Office Project 2007: Mega Woosh

Microsoft created a viral featuring Bruno Kammerl, described as building the biggest waterslide on earth. The test run was more than successful, and the film leans into that “did I just see that” energy from the first second.

A stunt film that behaves like a project story

The mechanism is classic viral bait. A bigger-than-life engineering build. A simple premise. A single high-risk moment. Then just enough mystery around “who is this” and “why does this exist” to make people share it while they debate whether it is real.

In enterprise project-management software marketing, a bold proof-like narrative can communicate “we make impossible plans doable” faster than feature lists ever will.

Why it lands

It uses constraint and payoff. The build feels specific enough to be plausible, and the jump delivers an instant, physical climax. Even if viewers suspect it is staged, the film still works because the emotion is the product. Surprise, disbelief, and the urge to forward it.

Extractable takeaway: If you want a product that sells “capability” to feel memorable, show one exaggerated outcome, then let the audience connect the dots back to the promise.

What this says about the brand

The strategic intent is to borrow the energy of ambitious personal projects and map it onto a tool used for complex planning. The viral creates a mental shortcut. Big plan. Bold execution. Managed outcome.

The real question is whether this kind of spectacle makes enterprise planning feel ambitious enough to remember. It does, because the campaign turns project management into a visible, shareable outcome instead of a software demo.

What to steal from Mega Woosh

  • Make the promise physical. If your product sells “capability”, dramatize it with a single, extreme outcome people can picture instantly.
  • Lock one simple story rule. Big build. One test. One payoff. The simpler the rule, the easier the share.
  • Use specificity to create plausibility. Named protagonist, concrete build details, and a clear “test run” moment make the film feel real enough to debate.
  • Let the audience connect the metaphor. Do not over-explain the product. Give them the leap from “impossible project” to “project management”.
  • Design the talk trigger. The best virals are built around a single question people argue about. “Is this real” is a distribution engine.
  • Keep the brand cue clean and minimal. Too much branding breaks the spell. Too little branding loses the credit.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Mega Woosh in one line?

A viral stunt film built around an oversized waterslide jump, used to signal “anything is possible” as a metaphor for managing big projects.

Why does this work as marketing for project software?

Because it dramatizes planning and execution as a single, bold narrative. The story does the positioning work without needing specs.

What makes it so shareable?

One premise, one payoff, and a high-disbelief moment that triggers debate and forwarding.

What is the risk of this approach?

If the audience feels tricked rather than entertained, trust can take a hit. The framing needs to stay playful, not deceptive.

What should marketers copy from this format?

Use one extreme, easy-to-explain outcome to embody the promise, then keep the branding light enough for the spectacle to travel.

Google Goggles: Rise of Visual Search

You take an Android phone, snap a photo, tap a button, and Google treats the image as your search query. It analyses both imagery and any readable text inside the photo, then returns results based on what it recognises.

This is visual search, meaning search where a captured image becomes the input instead of typed words. The point is not a clever camera trick. The point is that “point and shoot” can replace “type and search” in moments where you cannot name what you are looking at.

Before this, the iPhone already has an app that lets users run visual searches for price and store details by photographing CD covers and books. Google now pushes the same behaviour to a broader, more general-purpose level.

From typing to pointing

Google Goggles changes the input model. The photo becomes the query, and the system works across two parallel signals:

  • What the image contains, via visual recognition.
  • What the image says, via text recognition.

Because the system can extract both shape and text from the same frame, it removes the translation step between seeing something and turning it into keywords. That translation step is where most friction lives on a small mobile keyboard.

Why “internet-scale” recognition is the point

Google positions this as search at internet scale, not a small database lookup. The index described here includes 1 billion images, which signals the ambition to recognise the long tail of everyday objects, covers, signs, and printed surfaces.

In mobile, in-the-moment consumer and retail discovery, this matters because intent often starts with something you can see but cannot name.

Why it lands beyond “cool tech”

When the camera becomes a search interface, the web becomes more accessible in moments where typing is awkward or impossible. You can point, capture, and retrieve meaning in a single flow, using the environment as the starting point.

Extractable takeaway: The winning experiences are the ones that convert recognition into an immediate next step. Identify what I am looking at, then answer the implied question, such as “what is this?”, “where can I buy it?”, “what does it cost?”, “how do I use it?”.

When the camera becomes the keyboard, every physical surface becomes a potential search box. Brands that make their packaging, signage, and product imagery easy for humans and machines to read get discovered even when no one types their name.

The bet Google is making

This is a meaningful shift in input, but it will not replace typed search. It will win the moments where the user’s intent is anchored in the physical world and the fastest way to express that intent is to show the object.

What to steal if you build digital experiences

  • Design for machine-readable cues. High-contrast logos, consistent product shots, and legible typography increase the odds that recognition resolves to the right thing.
  • Assume zero-keyboard intent. Build journeys that start from what people see around them, not only from brand names and product model numbers.
  • Plan for ambiguity. Recognition will be probabilistic, so your assets should help disambiguate similar-looking items.
  • Treat demos as proof, not decoration. If your pitch is “this feels different,” show it working, as the original Goggles demo does.

A few fast answers before you act

What does Google Goggles do, in one sentence?

It lets you take a photo on an Android phone and uses the imagery and any readable text in that photo as your search query.

What is the comparison point mentioned here?

An iPhone app already enables visual searches for price and store details via photos of CD covers and books.

What signals does Goggles read from a photo?

It uses both visual recognition of what is in the image and text recognition of what is written in the image.

What is the scale of the image index described?

Google describes an index that includes 1 billion images.

What is included as supporting proof in the original post?

A demo video showing the visual search capability.

Opticana Eyewear’s $500 Campaign

You see an online coupon that reads “100 NIS Discount on eyeglasses” with a single call-to-action. “Print coupon”. It is simple, direct, and designed to convert immediately.

The campaign in one line

Here is a $500 campaign done by Mccann Erickson Israel for Opticana Eyewear.

The real question is whether a plain offer with almost no production spend can still move people from browser to store.

This is a strong example of low-budget marketing because it spends almost nothing on explanation and everything on conversion clarity.

The business intent is straightforward: drive measurable store traffic and coupon redemption without wasting spend on awareness theatre.

Why the “print coupon” mechanic works

The offer is obvious, the action is frictionless, and the value is tangible. By “print coupon” mechanic, the ad uses a digital message to create a physical redemption trigger people can carry into the store.

That works because the printed coupon turns vague interest into a concrete next step and gives the store a simple way to connect attention to redemption.

In retail categories where the final decision still happens in store, digital work gets stronger when it creates a clear handoff into the physical purchase moment.

Why this lands when budgets are tight

When budget is constrained, clarity becomes the creative advantage. A single strong offer, a single next step, and a design that makes the benefit impossible to miss can outperform “bigger” ideas that ask too much of the audience.

Extractable takeaway: If you cannot outspend the category, remove friction so completely that the offer itself becomes the creative.

What to borrow for offer-led retail work

  • Lead with the benefit. Show the value before anything else.
  • Reduce the path to action. One next step is often stronger than multiple choices.
  • Design for redemption. Make it easy for people to carry intent from screen to store.

A few fast answers before you act

What is the core idea of this $500 Opticana campaign?

A printable discount coupon that is easy to understand and easy to act on.

Why does a printable coupon still matter in retail?

It bridges online intent to offline purchase. It gives the customer a reason to visit, and it gives the store a clear redemption trigger.

What makes a low-budget campaign feel smart instead of cheap?

One clear promise, one clear action, and a design that prioritises the benefit over decoration.

What should you measure on an offer like this?

Prints, redemptions, and incremental sales during the offer window. If possible, track coupon code usage to separate organic uplift from campaign-driven traffic.

What kind of brands suit this approach best?

Brands with a clear retail offer and a store-based purchase moment. It works best when the value exchange is immediate and easy to redeem.