Filed in archive strategy by leon on September 1, 2006

An embarrassing leak or another case of viral marketing?

The official line from Microsoft is that it's investigating how two hilarious training videos starring Ricky Gervais as his character in the hit British TV series The Office made their way onto You Tube and Google.

According to news reports, the software giant says the videos were supposed to be for internal use only. YouTube has since removed the 20- and 17-minute videos at the request of an apparently very concerned copyright owner Microsoft.

Well, that's the official line anyway.

Truth is more and more tech companies are finding that "leaks" are becoming a great way of viral marketing, and in any case, hundreds of thousands have watched the supposedly clandestine video and given it five star reviews, reports The Gazette.

Watch the video here and you decide.

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The real cost of Microsoft Windows - 28 July 2007

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Permalink: Microsoft and the leak

Tags: Microsoft Ricky Gervais microsoft corporate business microsoft+leak business+draws draws+experience

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Vote for Microsoft and the leak:

Currently 10.00/10
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Rating: 10.00 out of 1 vote(s) cast.

Response from: Gary Bourgeaul (thealphamarketer.com) (09/04/06 1:12pm)

When it comes right down to it, it really doesn't matter if it was planned or unintentional; the bottom line is that it worked.

It is a great lesson for those that do want to begin viral marketing campaigns, and elements they could include to make it successful.

Since humor is the number one motivator of viral success, these videos obviously had it in spades.

Response from:

An embarrassing leak or viral marketing? The official line from Microsoft is that it's investigating how two hilarious training videos starring Ricky Gervais as his character in the hit British TV series The Office made their way onto You Tube and Goog...