[theboywho]

Most companies nowadays have some kind of Machine Learning in place, it shouldn't be a surprise if Microsoft uses some of that knowledge to craft their ads. It's not necessarly that they "got it", but maybe just doing what the data says they should do.

[incongruity]

You might be amazed how often senior executives ignore the data in favor of misconstrued notions of brand protection/image or fears about embracing things "not invented here".

Moreover, this product (more the video for it) represents a departure from previous approaches on Microsoft's part. So, for that reason, it's interesting, IMHO.

That having been said, I'm still not clear about exactly what the primary problem it is trying to solve. I get all sorts of little problems but there's no clear revolutionary "aha" in it.

[OrwellianChild]

I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all approach to promoting software that companies converge on. If "the data" is telling them to do this, Microsoft has managed to ignore "the data" for decades of marketing execution across many products and sectors. I'm just glad to see an example of their marketing strategy not shooting their products in the foot.