With travel to Japan being so restricted that some Olympians have been forced to hitch a ride on cargo planes to make the games, Microsoft Teams has launched a campaign aimed at those with major FOMO about having their Tokyo travel plans dashed by COVID-19. The ‘Ticket to Tokyo’ campaign sees wannabe tourists immersed in Japanese culture virtually via Teams, and hopes to highlight the interpersonal, emotional, and fun experiences that can be had on the platform, even in times of restrictions. Teams boasts over 44 million daily users, and is particularly popular among the biggest companies in the world – powering 93 of the Fortune 100 companies. “This was just a great opportunity for Teams to do what Teams does best – connect people visually, emotionally” says Kathleen Hall, Microsoft chief brand officer.

With the market size for video conferencing software set to reach $10.92 billion by 2027, the race is on for video conferencing brands to differentiate themselves from their competition. People are familiar with the supplementary role software like Microsoft’s can play during lockdown, and the context of the Tokyo Olympics allows that strong brand asset to be reignited. There’s also a lot of value in positioning a work tool as a fun and socially vibrant platform. It’s something that Zoom has also tried to tap into with its addition of games for long-distance socialising. In the family context, Caribu is doing a similar thing by bringing gamified socialising to family video calls.