Can Microsoft Be As Cool As Apple?

Fast Company magazine’s June 2008 cover story is of Alex Bogusky and his design firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky being awarded a $300 million contract from Microsoft to Make them as “cool as Apple”

Some of their work in the past has included the fun return of the King in the new Burger King commercials. They also did the award winning “Truth” campaign.

This is an act of desperation on Microsoft’s part. I have worked in the Advertising industry for the last 16 years. There is an adage in the Ad industry that says “Nothing is worse for a poor product than a good ad campaign.” So maybe this is another good thing for Apple, is to have Windows software weakness highlighted even more.

Another sad fact is that Alex is tossing out his new Macbook air and several of his other Macintosh computer systems in their office so they can immerse themselves in the product of their new client. This is a monumental mistake for his company. If I was an art director at his firm forced to use a windows based PC to do creative work I would request to be assigned to another account or quit.

His agencies productivity will drop considerably and he will have to hire an army of IT support technicians. There are more than one whitepapers written that support this point. There he goes flushing at least one third of his multi million dollar contract down the toilet.

Now what is he going to do with the other two thirds. Andrew Keller, Creative director, talks about how you can’t really fight cool head on. He mentioned that the job is less about the money and more about the challenge. I am not so sure about this. The entire history of Microsoft is about how they bought out every product they wanted to resell.

They mention they might come out with one of Microsoft’s popular products like x-box. I find it quite ironic that the Flagship game, Halo, was the brian child of Jason Jones at Bungie software. Bungie was a Macintosh only developer until Microsoft bought them out.

The historical image problem with Microsoft has always come down from the top. Its leaders have never had an air of innovation, but only of domination. They have not cared about their user nor their productivity. They have only cared about market share.

Alex I think is on the right track with the idea that he must be in close contact with the Microsoft Engineers. If anyone has any good ideas its them. They don’t really ever see the day of light in the product but they might get to come out in the advertising.

Hewlet Packard is the only PC company that has come out with some compelling advertisements. Those with Gwen Stefani, and Jay-Z and other artists using their products to create their art. While I would bet the free HP computer they received is still sitting in the box in their garage. They do have a plethora of Apple Products throughout their houses. What self respecting big time artist would be seen without an ipod and iphone?

I think his only strategy is to see if he can pull off a self-effacing campaign. Have Microsoft make fun of itself. It may not make the products more reliable, but then people might not hate the company that sold it to them so much. Good luck Alex.