Selling the Cloud Sublime - To the Cloud: Big Data in a Turbulent World - page 80

Sandwiched among these tall trees was a lesser-known company that
sold something many Americans used but knew very little about. For it was
at Super Bowl XLV that the cloud-computing company Salesforce debuted
two advertisements for its Chatter service. Both commercials were slick
animations meant to introduce the audience to a free private network for
businesses that could use the cloud to help internal communication and
collaboration, as well as expand their reach. The ads features Will.i.am,
lead singer of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, who poses the ques-
tion, “What do you think of the cloud?” which leads to a tour of Chatter.
The spot focuses on Chatty the Cloud, who helps keep the band “in line
. . . and on the same page,” with band members communicating about
tour updates, “ly shoe designs,” and new DJ gigs. All of this is done in
complete privacy and safety. The slogan that ends the spot, “Do impos-
sible things as a team,” marks the difference the cloud makes (Chatter
.com 2011a). The second spot features Will and the Peas demonstrating
some of those impossible things, including getting a job, turning an old
factory into a Silicon Valley workplace palace, and inding great clothes.
It ends on the most impossible note of all, as Chatty brings together the
warring Republican Party elephant and the Democratic Party donkey in
a conciliatory embrace (Chatter.com 2011b). Each ad pointed to a website
that provided more details about the Salesforce cloud.
These ads were unusual because they promoted a specialized business
product, as opposed to the more typical consumer goods and services aired
during most mass-audience events. Chatty the Cloud was not the stuff of
hot cars and beer, nor even of GoDaddy, whose ads approach—and some
say cross—the boundary of permissible sexual content. Nor was Chatty
a critical success. Most analysts did not relegate the commercials to the
trash bin of Super Bowl failures, but the lack of punch did not make them
memorable. If anything, the Salesforce ads succeeded in letting the audi-
ence know that there was this new thing called the cloud, which mattered
enough that well-known pop musicians gave it a ride.
Arguably the ad's most important point, which occupies the critical
last frames, is the proclamation “Do impossible things as a team,” because
it turns cloud computing into a myth. In this case a myth does not refer
to something that can be judged by whether it is true or false. 1 After all,
doing the impossible is by deinition a false proposition. Rather, myths
are judged by their resonance: not by their truthfulness, but by whether