Google's Eric Schmidt Shows Off His Acting Skills In An Ad For The Economist

Eric Schmidt has managed to take some time off from his dayjob to take up acting on the side. Kind of.

Google's executive chairman is the star of The Economist's latest advertising campaign, Marketing Week reports. The ad will broadcast on CNBC in Europe and Asia and will also appear across The Economist's social media channels.

Take a look at the ad:

The commercial is a re-working of The Economist's famous 1996 Henry Kissinger ad. That spot had depicted an executive waiting to see who he would be sitting next to on a flight, before the former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger sat himself down next to him.

The 2014 version shows a businessman waiting patiently for an elevator to move, before Eric Schmidt stops the doors from closing and steps in. The rest of the ad shows the businessman trying - and failing - to build up the confidence to start a conversation with Schmidt. The "Broaden Your Horizons" ad aims to explain that if people read the Economist, they'd have lots to talk to Schmidt about.

OK, so Schmidt doesn't really do much by way of acting in this ad, but it is quite remarkable that The Economist has persuaded one of the world's most powerful businessmen to do some work on camera to plug its brand.