Microsoft "Introducing Cortana" by m:united

Campaign puts Microsoft's virtual personal assistant through its paces

Microsoft has teased Windows phone geeks with features its upcoming software Cortana, and a new series of ads by m:united show consumers what it can do.

Cortana is a virtual personal assistant that can follow voice instructions, much like Apple's Siri.

In each video a humorous and awkward situation unfolds, along with a description of how Cortana could have avoided the situation.

In one, a meteorologist could have arrived to work on time from Brooklyn to Manhattan and not dashed by the cameras undressed. In another, a father could have remembered to pick up a birthday cake.