Note: Alex Bogusky is on Fast Company’s cover which, by the way, is not nearly as eye-catching as last month’s featuring uber-entrepreneur Gina Bianchini. He is there smiling in his de rigueur jeans and black tee-shirt because his Boulder ad agency Crispin Porter+Bogusky just won the Microsoft account. The $300 million Microsoft account. FC calls him the Steve Jobs of advertising. I have thought long and hard about this issue (for 15 minutes,) and here are some ideas for Alex as he helps Microsoft out of the hole they have dug for themselves.
1. Feature Bill Gates on the ads. I know he is semi-retired, building birdhouses and out saving the world. He can do so much more by staying home and fixing his company. The world does not need another rich do-gooder meandering around the world expounding on fixing poverty, however laudable that might be. What we need are real life examples of smart, creative problem solvers who can solve really huge problems. And Microsoft has a huge one. Bring Gates back and put him in the ads. I will believe they are fixing the problems when I see him commit to me, in person.
2. Repeat often: “Every strength to excess is a weakness, every strength to excess is a weakness.” Microsoft is so powerful, so smart, so big, so dominating..they just lost sight of the poor sap in cubicle 241. If anyone can figure out how to leverage their strength, it’s them, not Alex. He should just tell them to go ahead and do it, and then tell people about it. How about a 1-800 number for any problem us poor saps have, and get us an answer in, like, five minutes? It’s impossible to answer questions that fast? I know that. Bet ya can’t do it anyway.
3. Go after Steve and his ads, daily. Apple’s ads are catchy, clever and if you don’t do something about them, killers. Every weakness Microsoft has, Apple just hammers it with a dagger to their heart. You have to respond just like the politicians do. Have a truth squad, whatever, a war room…you just can’t let those ads hang there or you will be faced with a nation of Apple-is-better-and-cooler Believers. Think Swift Boats.
4. Lose the flag thing. I am talking the Microsoft logo, thing-y, I never much got that anyway. If you can sell the brass there on that one, I will start to believe your ads. Nothing will establish your cred to me that messing with that one. Make it something cool.
5. Apple=Jobs+Design+NewCool; Microsoft=Gates+HardToUse/Fix+Smart. Steve came back to fix his company after-during Pixar; if Bill won’t come back now, he must not care. Show me HE cares. Apple has cool already staked out, which is smart. Everyone knows Microsoft is “smart”–make me embrace smart like I do “cool.”
What ideas do you have for Alex “I am not a” Bogusky?
18 users commented in " Five Things Alex Bogusky Should Do For Microsoft "
Great advice here… maybe Microsoft should bring you on board as a consultant.
I really like the emphasis on bringing Gates back into the picture — people recognize the name Bill Gates and they are more than aware of the charity work he does, but we need to connect Bill Gates the icon to Bill Gates the business genius.
I may be too young to remember what exactly Microsoft did right, but it remains a powerhouse because at some point in time the company was on the right track. With people like Scoble rabble-rousing about the implications of Microsoft purchasing Yahoo and Facebook, the company needs good PR. Give the people a figure to look up to though, someone who promises reform and positive change, and they’ll be all the more willing to look for the better aspects of the company.
I doubt BG can do anything about this. He is not a marketing guru a-la Steve, he’s built his company by being close to the law and understanding it better than others. Hence how he acquired all critical IP early on (some will read steal here but yeah, acquired).
Glenn…as you know, it takes special skills to be a consultant. I am much better throwing ideas over the cubicle wall plus I CANNOT stand meetings. But thanks and I am for hire. Shoot, for an airplane ticket and a free lunch, I am there!!
If a company as big and powerful as Microsoft can’t rise above the personality/talents of its founder, they have REAL problems beyond Apple kicking sand in their face. Nobody lives forever and companies need to rise above and grow beyond the founder. I would suggest the exact opposite; move beyond Gates and Ballmer and bring in new blood. Risky but as we all know, risk and reward go hand in hand.
Bringing back Gates to MSFT is similar to bringing back Clinton to the white house…it just isn’t the right answer.
You might be right, Scott. I wonder if Gil Amelie and John Sculley are tied up?
[...] of its Vista marketing morass? One blogger thinks Microsoft would be well-served to use Chairman Bill Gates, in spite of his imminent retirement from day-to-day duties at Microsoft, as the centerpi… of its campaign. Thoughts? function loadTips() { var load [...]
Microsoft needs a thorough house cleaning from top to bottom. Let Bill disappear, send Ballmer packing, sack the chief marketing team of Mich Mathews and Michael Delman. They’ve wasted more dollars on ineffective ad campaigns than any duo in ad history. Give David Webster, Microsoft’s brand leader a free reign on how to establish an emotional connection with prospects and customers. He is a true genius buried in layers of corporate process and protocol. Let him partner with Alex Bogusky’s team to create an ongoing dialogue with prospects and customers. Don’t try to be cool. Microsoft is not cool. Don’t tell people you’re smart. That’s arrogant. Find a way to make people feel (not think) that Microsoft actually cares about its customers. Good luck with that!
Ok, this is much better than mine. My only thought is that GATES is still identified with MSFT, he is young enough and still believeable. I admit it would be a large task, one that Bill is probably not up for, career-wise, timing-wise, skill-wiseand marketing-wise.
I still think my advice of publishing a toll free number to take calls quickly will be the heavy dose of reality that Ballmer, Gates et all need. My main point is that only Gates could demand this happen and once he was on that end of the shitstorm, products would get fixed faster.
Or maybe not…
[...] writer of blog What Would Dad Say provides a few suggestions (for a substantially smaller price than $300 million) for a new [...]
[Begin shameless plug:] Perfect timing. I just posted an entry about hearing a Zune ad on the radio. Zune. On the radio. Those that hear the ad either don’t want it (because they like radio) or don’t need it (Because they already have a radio)[end shameless plug]
They have an earned image of arrogance and hubris. So let them apologize. It’s very unlikely that it’ll happen, but they could regain a lot of karma if they got Bill Gates and Ballmer making public apologies for Vista, Zune, etc. Pies and eggs are optional.
It’s interesting that nobody even thinks of the third major MSFT founder, the one who left long before MSFT started stumbling, the one now associated with SpaceShipOne and other neat things: Paul Allen. It’d be nice to have an engineer with a sense of style back in MSFT’s upper echelons.
The problem is that it’s more than just image. It’s been an image they’ve earned through more than just bad marketing. Your suggestion #2 is the best of the bunch. Pour that advertising into good tech support. Start new projects that are risky in that they break backwards compatibility the same way MacOS X did. Allow for more transparency within the organization — Not the way of the Scoble, but the way of the Mini-Msft. And give that guy a promotion, too.
On second thought, require the pies and eggs.
Blaine, never even thought of Paul Allen. For me, it is msft=gates and he has to be the one who comes in. I like the concept of a couple of “I’m sorry’s” in there, too.
[...] Hoffman offers some marketing advice in the wake of the news that Microsoft has hired Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the agency that revamped [...]
My last company did MSFT tech support, and you would be amazed at the stupid tech help calls they get.
“My computer won’t turn on”
Is it plugged in?
“oh…no”
“My computer won’t turn on”
Is there power in your neighbourhood
“no we’ve got a blackout”
….true stories.
Your Toll Free line? =that way lies madness.
I think he should go after the ’smart’ thing. There are a lot of people who are very smart, but don’t identify with Apple’s ‘creative’ side – they would rather wear the suit and tie and do the corporate desk thing. Make that cool again, and you might have a shot at it. Google and Apple have done a lot to break that down, but if any corporation can make it cool to wear a tie to work, it’d be Microsoft.
On the other hand, I’m all for jeans and creativity, so I wouldn’t buy it.
As I read through these posts I hear a “get em” attitude and almost fear-like expression. What happened to healthy competition? I believe that since Microsoft is a software company that they should focus on making the best software. Why try to smash someone else’s success. Frankly what Apple is saying is true. Don’t give them anything to say! Make your product sound and customers will have less reason to agree.
[...] Fast Company. He was readying a new advertising campaign for Microsoft. In good fun, I offered up Five Things Alex Bogusky Should Do For Microsoft. The VERY FIRST TIP was to feature Bill Gates in the ads. See here: 1. Feature Bill Gates on the [...]
All of you and writer must think that Microsoft actually stands a chance. I think before advertising, or i like to think of it as brainwashing, is a bigger problem that MS is facing. Their product rarely achieves the attention it wants. Even Bogusky can’t fix this problem. no offense Bogusky, you’re a pretty good at what you do. I mean, Bogusky may slap some cool viral videos and create advertising that hits millions of viewers, but at the end of the day what is the consumer really left with? I can only name one product that people were raving about since the inception of Windows; and it was Xbox. Not to rip on MicroSoft as i use thier products every day, but they need to be inventive, think outside of the box and create solutions that appeals to the audience on a more emotional level. Apple does that with all its products. They understand the users, understand their story, and thus, understand what would be helpful to the world. I mean, Apple’s got the world by the leash. Everyone, is wondering what is the Next “thing” with them. notice the difference between Microsoft print ads and Apple print ads these days?
It’s like a car salesman trying to sell cars vs. a little girl selling lemonade from a stand.
Apple doesn’t even need to sell the product with extraneous benefits they think the consumer really wants to know. The idea, the product, the user-experience, is just plain SIMPLE.
Microsoft’s new formula, and please take notes Bogusky is:
Help Microsoft create a product + think of the user = Trust from the consumer.
I just woke up to see this. Bogusky is a billionaire
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