Watching This One Film, Your Mouth Drops Open as a Whole Life Flashes By Straight to the Grave / Xbox "Life is Short, Play More"

The problem

At the time, Xbox had just launched, and PlayStation had a firm grip on the market. Against PlayStation's dark, exclusive image, Xbox chose a positive line instead: "Life is short, play more." About $50 million was poured into the European launch, and no one imagined it would take this kind of direction.

The insight

Life ends in a flash, so play now. That message was expressed by showing an entire life, from birth to death, as one single unbroken arc. Jeff Goodby placed this alongside Nike's "Tag," saying that both push "go play" onto a post-9.11 world, but one is joyful and the other is tragic.

The idea

Twelve actors played the same character from three months old to 70 years old, all shot in front of a wind machine. The background was filmed from a helicopter, sweeping from a hospital to a graveyard, with the final graveyard scene recreated in a park in west London. BBH handled the campaign, led by Fred & Farid, who were still unknown at the time (the same pair who would later start their own agency). In an era before YouTube, it was shared more than a million times by email alone.

What happened

The ad received 136 complaints and was banned from broadcast by the ITC in June 2002. Even so, Microsoft refused to cut it, and kept running it online and in cinemas. It won Gold at Cannes Lions and multiple awards including the Grand Prix at the Art Directors Club of Europe. The controversy didn't weaken the ad's power at all—it only turned it into a legend.

Afterthought

"My mouth dropped open the first time I saw it"—that reaction still holds true 20 years later. Microsoft's refusal to cut the ad even after it was banned, combined with the sheer force of those 52 seconds, still gives me chills watching it today.

Awards

• Cannes Lions Gold

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