I think it means that people are sick of ATT changing their name. Are they SBC? ATT? Cingular? Just pick a name already!

It means that ooma opens up a new world in telecom, dreams may be realized and all that, and that it isn’t playing with the old telco bullies, but instead is doing it’s own thing, imagining things as it would like the to be, and creating this world.

It means “I wish I were Arjun Mehta” — starting a cool company in 6th grade. Then I’d have lots of friends!

I think the video’s message says that unless you have something cool and different, no one will take notice.

Related to that, the “oo” in the Ooma sound like “uh, ah”, the sound you would make when you see something amazing.

Wow - ok, I think ol’ Ashton is delving a little too much into a combination of films: Alice in Wonderland (fantastic journey), Matrix (I’m powerful because I believe) and A Beautiful Mind (because the kid is, sadly, a creative genius who’s a little whacked) laced with some good paoti.

Here’s the message I got from it:
The VOIP studs wouldn’t let the creators of Ooma play so they went out and created their own piece of beauty that brings everyone to their side. (I especially liked the preschool reference to “chicks dig it.” It seems Ashton is going the opposite way from his real life.)

It’s all about believing in yourself and making your dreams happen, dude! Maybe Ashton can put that on a trucker hat.

Hope you’ve decompressed from the conference, Mike.

This video is a flashback of some guy’s childhood… but altered.

Today the grown man, still reeling from being unpopular with the guys and gals as a kid, recently bought an OOMA. Phone calls are now free for him. He imagines that his classmates have to pay for phone calls. He is happy that he is on the bleeding edge of technology.

The flashback of being rejected on the playground comes back to the guy, but this time, things are different. The clouds, smoke and flowers could be a reference to the 70’s, but whatever it is, the guy has it, and the other kids don’t. They want what he has.

Does he share the clouds, smoke and flowers with his classmates? In the present day, does he tell them about OOMA?

Ooma is more than just imagination … nothing is impossible lol

I think it means “I don’t know anything about viral videos but I will make one anyway.” Let’s be serious here, their creative director is a celebrity, not a professional.

I think it means you should remove the ad that says: “Register to attend TechCrunch40 Sept ‘07″

Excellent video! Wow…
Just goes to show that everyone can make their dreams come true!

Maybe it means that, to spend 100 dollars more on Oooma than you would on an iPhone, some sort of pychotropic drug is probably involved.

Basically I think it means…

Ooma may look simple, but if you knew all the CRAZY things it could do, you’d want to play with it.

OR it could mean…

Don’t let your kids eat mushrooms growing in the neighborhood park.

The ad effectively drives home the positive effects hallucinogens have on the developing minds of 8-12 year olds.

It refers to not being allowed to play with the cool kids but paving your own path anyway

Here goes…

So the boy is the traditional telecom industry. When he started creating things out of thin air, there was a hot air balloon that flew away - that was Ooma. As the telecom industry continued to create things it surrounded itself in smoke (ie opaque and shady business practices), hurting the boy and the flowers of the earth. When the boy came out of the clouds enough to see all the other kids (who represent today’s consumers), the kids were all clambering to play with him, just as customers have rushed toward the traditional telecom industry.

I’m sure in the later videos the other kids will see that the telecom industry is all smoke and mirrors with a bad bowl cut and they’ll fly away in their wonderful Ooma balloon.

The end.

I thnk the first part is about Ooma wanting to get in the voip game with the other players (other voip companies) not letting him join in. They say no so he goes ahead and starts his own the way he thinks it should be which is completely different, and better, than theirs.

That ad, in a word (yeah, a made up word): gadgetlust.

“Ooh, ooh… I want what he’s got”.

It worked for me (’course I admit I wanted one before I saw the ad).

That was an attempt to hypnotize you into giving me one of those Oohmamas. Did it work?

The ad is not supposed to have any meaning (or even if it did, that’s not its intended purpose). The goal is to start a conversation (OOMA = phone = conversation, if you didn’t get the pun). Soon you will have 300 comments here trying to make sense of the commercial (add 30 other blogs linking to it making it reach to the top of techmeme). Some comments will be sensical, some cynical, doesn’t matter - the goal to start the conversation will have been achieved.

The above explaination is in the ad itself - the kid uses imagination to start the conversation with the kids in the playground.

I think it means “you’re about to be punk’d”.

“Magic in a Box”
Everyone wants to be the kids’ friend after his zen-like magical display. Everyone wants to be “friends” with those with magic powers whether a box or a person.

I think more than anything, the idea behind the video was to leave it’s meaning open to interpretation, enhancing the viral nature of the video. It’s inherently designed to generate these kinds of discussions. That may be giving Ashton more credit than he deserves, but it could be the underlying goal.

If you really want to try and figure out some of the symbolism, I think a few of your readers have hit it on the head, with the Ooma opening up possibilities and potential that would otherwise not be seen directly. With it’s simple, yet brilliant design, it’s not apparent how effective the Ooma is and how it enhances productivity (or so the company would like us to think). With the kid being told to go away (the equivalent of us walking by a similar phone in Best Buy or something), the other kids fail to see his potential. And once they do, everyone wants to take part.

It is apparently “magic in the box”! A new era of telephony. The spot drives the idea that there is/will be a simple solution that can do more than you can imagine.

personally, i think the two bullies were a reference to the big VoIP companies, and larger telephone companies, the playground was a metaphor for thinking inside the box, as it had clearcut wooden boundaries and its where everyone else was playing.

the other kids were more representative of businesses and people, basically the potential customers of the aforementioned larger companies. The kid leaving, was a metaphor for thinking outside the box, you’ll also notice the field was shown to be far more expansive and open, open being the operative factor.

the flowers and hot air balloon were representative of superior features over the iPhone. the clouds were probably representative of The Cloud, aka the Internet, which is how this thing works. The smoke, and the swiftness at which it disappeared might have something to do with the smoke thats covering the customers of larger company’s eyes, or it could have been a reference to the smoke that was surrounding this device, i dont know, those are just my thoughts.

Drud induced? My view of the world is like that every day! But the commercial is so damn true, kids may hate on other kids until they see what they have then they want to play. Nice commercial

I believe it means that “anyone” cool or not cool will want to use this phone device.

Arthur C. Clarke said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Ooma - killer technology. Woooooo. Beautiful art is caused by pain, isolation and rejection; the bullies represent Ma Bell, and our hero is Ooma. Oh, and the daisies clearly represent “Daisy Bell”, a song composed by Harry Dacre in 1892. If you notice, “Harry Dacre in 1892″ has ten syllables when you pronounce it aloud. Just like the ten Oomas being given away.

The video simply means “this is the stuff you can create when you’re high and in hollywood.”

Video:

Ooma = down the rabbit’s hole (a.k.a. all that and a bag’o chips.) = web 3.0 paradigm shift.

Did you want me to include my address now?

R.

The kid was shunned by others, and constructed a “walled garden” to protect himself from the pain of rejection. Only after he lifted the wall was he able to expand his network - and invite friends in to play.

Rob

i think it means that Ashton is taking some serious drugs. ones that can make a man marry a cyborg like Demi Moore or produce this type of incoherent video. i have seen better ads on the QVC channel.

i bet he is sharing the a drug dealer with Britney.

It means that if you having an Ooma makes you a superhero!

The kid sits alone and then realizes his power. He’s surprised by it, then welcomes it. Then when the kids that rejected him come to admire him, he realizes his power.

Just like the humble beginnings of every superhero. He now has the power but needs to learn to harness it for good. Get and Ooma, be a superhero!

Thanks,
Jaafer

It means the potheads in Pitzer are actually cooler than the preppies in CMC.

Although it first appears that the big kids are having so much fun (the big phone companies), if you’ve got something to offer (the kid, which represents ooma), they’ll want to deal with you.

I think in the next episode, he’ll let them play, but they’ll now play by his rules.

It means people will be disappointed when they realize that instead of enabling them to conjure up clouds, sunflowers and balloons at will, Ooma is, in fact, just a VoIP solution.

the companies creative director?

argh.

do we need to review possessive forms?

Reposted without the ‘lack of sleep’ grammar mistakes …

It means that having an Ooma makes you a superhero!

The kid sits alone and then realizes his power. He’s surprised by it, then welcomes it. When the kids that rejected him come to admire him, he realizes his power.

Just like the humble beginnings of every superhero. He now has the power but needs to learn to harness it for good. Get an Ooma, be a superhero!

Thanks,
Jaafer

I think the video is a shout out from Ashton, to Ashton (as he’s obviously conceited), for some of the achievements he has made in life thus far. To start, I think the flowers, clouds, smoke and “Trippy” music are a nod to that 70’s show was he was doing. For the life of me, I can’t remember the show’s name, but I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about. Following that, the boy entices the “cool kids” to come see what he is doing and when they get there, he just stops and throws up a little grin that suggests, “HA, I made you look!” To me, this is an obvious reference to that show where he pulls punk pranks on people. There again, I don’t recall the name.

Continuing on, you should note the nature of what has actually transpired. A seemingly small and innocent act of asking to play has caused the boy to face rejection. He then walks away defeated and takes a sit in a nearby field. The trauma inspires him to create his own entertainment and he uses the surrounding environment and atmosphere to create the aforementioned flowers, clouds, and smoke. To me, this is a visualization of The Butterfly Effect. Now while I have not seen the move, I know Ashton played a role in a movie that dealt with this phenomenon, and had a similar sounding title….. man what was that??

Finally you come to the nature of activities. He asks to “PLAY”, only to be turned down by his peers. He then opts to take on a more adult role of a creator of life in his own personal world. His fascination with this suggests that is it more much for fun to “DO” older things, which of course, is a reference to Demi Moore.

To me, the boy represents Ashton is a sort of homage to his life as a child. He wasn’t the cool kid, but look what he can do now. Make a viral video that makes absolutely no sense and everyone thinks is the coolest thing since….. well the last viral video. Dramatic Chimpunk anyone?

All that……. Or……. It’s just a play on the theme that you don’t have to join the phone network crowd any more. Switch to VOIP and you literally open up a “World” of possibilities. Oh, and those other guys will want what you have.

#34 - But Adam - if the kid is now setting the rules, doesn’t he just become another “big phone company?”.

Rob

Ooma will save you so much money that you will be able to support the whole neighborhood’s drug addiction.

it means that when you have millions in venture capital, you can waste money on “WTF does that mean” commercial, that doesn’t even have a link to your website

I think it means that if you release a commercial that’s so incoherent it almost begins to make sense again.

It means they are master Marketeers and this video will fly across the http://WWW. Heck, it even got you to post it, Michael!

{wonder if the service is as good as their marketing skills}

Hey, using the term “drug induced” implies their is something cool about DI!
You guys need to stop this, you say we should be open minded and understanding, we are not!
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

Little Ooma at first wasn’t allowed to play in the “big kid” world. So, he created his own world. Now after seeing what Ooma can do, the big kids want to play with him.

I think it means: “we raised a lot of VC money”

But I still like the product…

What does it mean? Who cares. That kid has some sweet powers… remember, there is no spoon.

I think it is clear that the answer to what the video means is “42″

Have you seen That 70’s Show? It means Ashton Kutcher smokes a lot of pot… duh.

Seriously, though, with Kutcher’s film industry connections, that was the best camera operator they could get, bouncing his shadow on the kid during every close up…?

Remember the movie - “The Butterfly Effect” (2004), well Ashton just had another memory blackout. Listen to the sound effects…just like in the original movie. That’s what your seeing a trailer to the sequel.
You see he’s got magic in the box…