I was lucky enough to produce a campaign for MSN some years ago written by the inimitable Mark Wnek and Paul Shearer.

You’ve probably heard of both these guys: Wnek, a major talent of his generation (with art director Alan Waldie, Mark won a Cannes Grand Prix in the days they only handed out one or two) derailed by the lure of management, where he did this pretend gruff routine to cover up his unhappiness and insecurity; Glaswegian Paul Shearer, best known for his brilliant and extensive Nike work, world class art director, creative director, director, person — though take care not to mistake niceness for weakness!

Doug Nichol, wonderful director, even more wonderful guy, now a feature director, directed the campaign through my production company Serious Pictures.

That was the creative team. All were kept on point by top account man Adrian Simons, now — coincidentally — a big in Microsoft’s marketing community.

As for the client, you think Microsoft and you imagine vast production/media budgets etc.

Not with this project.

Maybe it was because Paul and Mark’s agency Euro RSCG was the only non-McCann Microsoft agency in the world at the time. Maybe it was because our little project was a rogue within a Microsoft organization that allowed for/encouraged such things at the time.

Either way, the campaign had little backing, no PR and came and went with zero hoopla.

Until it hit the internet: ahead of their time as ever, Mark and Paul had written the campaign for the web, hoping for take-off on what was then still just a partially-built runway.

My (and Wnek’s) favorite spot of the three or four was about a nerdy-looking guy buying a pair of pants. A showcase for the boys’ writing skills, it’s a spot that’s all about what isn’t said rather than what is.

I think Paul’s favorite (and Trevor Beattie’s — he chose it as ‘Ad of The Week’ in the UK’s ‘Campaign’ magazine that week) was about a lonely worm who gets cut in two, so getting a brand new pal.

I’m no strategy guy, but the thinking was very simple: MSN was your funnest way in to the internet, a whole new life of endless delight that was all yours regardless of status, handsomeness/beauty or any other qualifications.

A whole new world in which, whoever you were, you were enough.

That was the target, the quiet individual without the loudest voice of her or his own.

In the spot about the nerdy guy, we first find him taking a contemplative stroll through a seemingly deserted, dingy department store.

He chooses a pair of non-descript pants and goes off to try them on in a changing room.

Once there, the nerdy guy drops his own pants, glances into the mirror and momentarily celebrates his massive lack of physique with one of those muscleman poses.

Right at this moment, a smokin’ hot girl pulls back the curtain to his changing room, hangs her purchase on a hook and begins to take off her top saying, “Sorry, all the other rooms were taken!”

The very millisecond before the hot girl’s presumably perfect breasts bounce into view, we cut away to our nerdy guy’s disbelieving, joyous face as a voice says, “Life’s Great! See MSN for details.”

I don’t remember the ins and outs on the client side, but I think the ‘rogue element’ that commissioned the work ran into trouble soon after — perhaps victims of one of the constant ‘regime changes’ in Microsoft’s marketing department at the time?

Either way, the campaign rose without trace.

The ‘Changing Room’ spot appealed to absolutely nobody — other than the 209,133,203 (and counting) people it was supposed to appeal to.

These are men and women (yes, ok, perhaps mainly the former) who aren’t out and about in the world, tending rather to spend more time on the internet — certainly ‘nobodies’ when it came to being on the cutting edge of opinion and thought leadership.

When you look at the relatively few other things living in the rarefied air of 200 million plus views on YouTube you see two principal commonalities (and a half).

One is famous people — singers, actors, whatever.

The other is graphic sex.

(The ‘half’ is that there aren’t many single advertisements — if any — with over 200 million views.)

To see the Microsoft Changing Room spot on YouTube you have to get through a couple disclaimers about being over 18 and the like. Bizarre because, of course, there’s no sex in the spot, just the highly unlikely possibility of impending sex perhaps. Although the hot girl is waaaaay out of the nerdy-guy’s league, she does seem to be kinda interested in him…

For me the spot is a master-class in charm.

If you look at Paul Shearer’s hugely-awarded body of work, you’ll see that charm is a major factor.

Sir Frank Lowe, Mark’s former boss, held charm to be the most important element in advertisements. Like all Lowe’s copywriting employees, Wnek was never allowed to forget it.

As for Doug Nichol, he simply gets everything right in this spot — from casting to lighting to timing to wardrobe etc etc — and like all world-class agency teams, Adrian, Mark and Paul protected Doug from all interference.

Yes, I’m perfectly prepared to admit that part of the spot’s virality could be the potentially addictive game of ‘Nipple or Not?’ that’s there for whoever’s of a mind to play it.

But I’m adamant that charm — a quality achievable via craft, but always better with large dollops of serendipity — the most under-ratedly potent tool in the commercial artist’s armory, regardless of medium or strategy, is the main force at work here.

The 200 million plus people who have so far enjoyed the Changing Room spot on YouTube were the people for whom Paul and Mark wrote the campaign: the smart and sharp but shy and self-conscious, the silent majority of the internet.

They tend to keep their opinions to themselves or at best anonymous.

They certainly aren’t intellectually pushy or sharp-elbowed — you won’t find them on Cannes Lions panels or advertising awards juries.

But ignore them at your peril.

Because there’s nothing anonymous about their MASSIVE collective spending power, which they’re ready to put behind brands.

Or not.