Hey, Salesforce, Using Will.i.am In An Ad Doesn't Automatically Make You Cool

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Sunday, February 6th, 2011

Well, Salesforce just debuted its Super Bowl Chatter ads (we’ve embedded the ads below), which were a little disappointing. The ads featured Will.i.am and the rest of the Black Eyes Peas in a cartoon promoting the CRM giant’s ‘Facebook for the enterprise.’

The ads, which aired during the halftime show, include what appears to be computer-generated cartoon versions of Will.i.am (he actually co-produced the ad) and his bandmates, zooming around, and talking about how Chatter helps them communicate more efficiently. To be honest, I find the commercials a little confusing and too quick. And it’s hard to imagine that a technology company would spend millions for two ads that seemed to be average at best.

And Will.i.am is sort of a stretch as an enterprise customer. But as Salesforce opens Chatter to the public, the company has ambitions of making the communications platform more of a mainstream tool.

How much do you want to bet that The Black Eyes Peas have never used Chatter? $3 million?

What do you think? Will these ads help Chatter become the ‘Facebook for the Enterprise’?

Company: Salesforce
Website: salesforce.com
Launch Date: 1999
IPO: February 7, 2004, NYSE:CRM

Salesforce is an enterprise cloud computing company that provides business software on a subscription basis. The company is best known for its on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions. Salesforce was founded in 1999 by former Oracle executive Marc Benioff, and went public in June 2004. Salesforce has been a pioneer in developing enterprise platforms through its innovative AppExchange directory of on-demand applications, and its Force.com “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) API for extending Salesforce.

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