Happy Anniversary… Skype!

I know, I know… once again I forgot our anniversary.  I swear, next time, I am going to not only celebrate our anniversary but celebrate all the awesome times we have had together over the last year.

Remember that time last fall when you met my Mum for the first time… it was a crazy emotional moment.  She could not, for the life of her believe what was right in front of her eyes.  She cried, said one to many OH MY GOD’s and cried some more.  “I can’t believe that I can actually see your face, this is so cool!”  Yep, I have to say, Skype you have been a part of the family ever since.

But like most relationships, meeting Mum was just the beginning.  I swear, I am just scratching the surface getting to know your 15M friends in the UK, and how could I keep up now that they are growing 22% year over year!  You are the only piece of technology I trust to let me IM, Video Call and explore some cool advertising content all within a desktop application… and a tablet… and a smartphone.

The more I get to know you, the more I get really excited about the opportunities.  I know I am biased, but between the engaging adverts and the educated and affluent audience you attract, it is hard to stay away.  You are so loyal to your friends and advertisers alike.  When given the opportunity to sing your praises, your friends are 104% more likely to search for a brand advertiser just because you suggested it.  That is relevancy at its best.  Add that to the 15% lift you drive in brand favourability and I am amazed that you have only been with us for one year.  That is pretty solid for such a young product.

Your advertising executions continue to walk the line between innovative for advertisers and non-intrusive for consumers.  Your rich expandable masthead and MPU’s (which now click to full screen) on the homepage and small but effective conversation ad continue to see growing engagement.  Over the next few months you are also getting a good number of friends from Messenger and they will be delighted to see not only that robust chat functionality, but a hearty integration with their Live and Facebook accounts right there on their home screen.

All in all it has been a phenomenal year of growth and expansion.  Since the first time you met my Mum to now and beyond, I look forward to our time together every week to talk with the family back home.  I can see now why most people average 30 minutes each time they use Skype and at least half of your 15M UK friends use Skype twice a week or more. 

Here’s to you Skype and here’s to another awesome year and probably a bit of a wacky introduction to my Grandma in California.