Microsoft takes more jabs at Slack with new NFL Playoffs ad for Teams

As Microsoft Teams becomes more popular, Microsoft wants to solidify the collaboration tool as a better solution for the workplace when compared to Slack. In what The Verge calls a first, the company will be airing a new TV commercial for Microsoft Teams this weekend during the NFL Playoffs, which you can watch below.

The 30-second ad is titled “The Power of Microsoft Teams,” and begins by highlighting how much the “boring” meeting and conference room has evolved over the years. It then shifts to show that, with Teams, employees and companies can invite everyone they work with to meetings, and “be seen, be heard, and be there when you’re not.”

Several features of Teams can be seen throughout the ad, all of which are highpoints of the service when compared to Slack. That includes its integrations and sharing files with Office 365, Microsoft Whiteboard, the background blur feature, and native support for sharing GIFs. Naturally, the video even shows off instances of how Teams complements other Microsoft products in the modern office, such as the Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro X, and the Surface Hub 2S. The video ends with a tagline obviously aimed at Slack: “When you’re ready to unleash the power of your team, open Teams.”

The ad comes after software company AvePoint announced it secured $200 million in funding to move more customers to Teams, and away from Slack. Slack also previously accused Microsoft of ripping off their ad, so this might as well mark a new moment in the collaboration software rivalry.