By Chris Neiger 

Yesterday I read an article on the Fast Company website about advertising genius Alex Bogusky and his new $300 million deal with Microsoft to produce the next ad campaign for the tech giant (read about it here). After I read it, I kept wondering what exactly is wrong with Microsoft's image, how can it be changed and what can Bogusky do to fix it? I have to admit, when I think of Microsoft, I tend to think they're boring.

A Brief Background on Bogusky

If you're unsure who this guy is, maybe you'll recognize some of his work over the past few years. He's built up his ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky churning out the "Truth" campaign ads against smoking, launching Coke Zero with commercials showing Coke suing itself for "Taste Infringement" as well reviving the Burger King brand by bringing back the "King" icon form the 60's; just to name a few. Oh yeah, and the semi-creepy Orville Redenbacher doing his own popcorn commercials came from him too.

His company is known for using viral marketing and the Fast Company article notes several times of a certain cool factor that Bogusky has. Actually, the article is even entitled, "Can Hotshot Ad Guy Alex Bogusky Make Microsoft Cool?" And that, apparently, is what Microsoft is looking for.  

Microsoft's Apple Envy

Obviously, there's no denying Microsoft's impact on technology, culture, innovation, etc. but lately they haven't been as successful at branding a good image  as rival Apple has (I know I've mentioned Apple several times in the last few blogs, I promise I'll cut back). With the Mac vs. PC ads, the arguably failed launch of Vista in both software and advertising considerations, and the simple fact that not many people like the guy who's king of the hill for long, means that MS may in fact need a few suave pointers to get us interested again. The fact that they hired Bogusky and didn't turn to their go-to ad agency McCann Worldgroup, is a pretty good sign that the company is looking for a change. The question is whether this new ad direction will turn heads and change Microsoft's image from a cigar-smoking fat cat to... I don't know...  a young, quick-witted hipster with blue jeans and long hair.

Needs vs. Wants

Although the company has hit a rough patch in the last few months with the whole mess with Yahoo!, causing their stock prices to drop off during that time, the company has still seen 10% profits over the past 5 years and, lest we forget, they still hold 90% of the market for applications and operating systems and Kiplinger.com still had them on their list of "5 Stocks We Love" back in February. Not that I'm defending the giant (this writer still enjoys his aging Powerbook G4 over any new PC he's used and drools over the latest iPhone) but a lot of what I do for my job is done on a PC and chances are you're reading this on a PC right now. So maybe it's just that Microsoft WANTS to bee seen differently, rather than actually NEEDING a new image.

Either way, whatever Bogusky and his co-conspirators come up with will launch sometime next month, and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with. If they're successful in their campaign, maybe Microsoft can shake off its lameness and start competing in popularity contests with Apple. But until then, I'll continue being enthralled with rival commercials that remind me that Microsoft = Excel and Apple = All things cool.