Microsoft’s “Women Made” ad named top breakthrough ad by Ace Metrix

Microsoft has always had one mission statement: empowering people to do great things. It’s no wonder, then, that they try and pour some of their resources to help empower women – a group that, whether you realize it or not, is often brushed to the side and ignored by the tech industry. It was with this goal in mind that Microsoft decided to put out a super bowl ad focused on pointing out the fact that the way we’re educated about history is often male-centered, and should be expanded to include other extremely significant inventions that were brought into the world by women.

The ad interviewed a few young girls about what they knew about inventors they learned about in school, and they named some of the people that you might name if asked the same questions – the most famous inventors in history, like Alexander Graham Bell and Benjamin Franklin. Afterwards, they asked a fairly simple question: “Can you name any women inventors?”

The question stumped all of them, and it may stump a fairly large portion of you as well. It’s sort of a depressing moment when you realize just how few of the great women inventors that changed the course of history are made a focus in our schools, most notably people like Ada Lovelace, who made the very first computer algorithm.

The ad then went on to show us a list of many different women inventors and the thing that they did to change the world, and leaves us with a message that we should celebrate all things that “women made,” and showing us that knowing about some of these great women gave some hope to the young interviewees about how they could make an impact in the world.

This ad won the top spot in Ace Metrix’s list of their “Top 10 Breakthrough ads,” scoring a likability rating of 771 and an attention score of 769. The ad won the spot on the list against some other popular super bowl commercials, including the “Zedd and Blacc: Singing in the Studio” ad for M&Ms, and the “No Dogs Allowed” ad for Doritos.