Gawker: valleywag, crispin porter & bogusky

Microsoft's new "I'm a PC" commercials want you to "Think Different"

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Microsoft and agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky's post-Seinfeld ads are out and we've embedded them below. They start with a guy who looks just like the actor who plays PC in Apple's Mac vs. PC ads saying "I'm a PC and I've been made into a stereotype." Then the commercials cut to shark-hunting adventurers, African teachers, graffiti artists, minor celebrtities and astronauts all also saying "I'm a PC." Then a voice-over begins: "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." Well, not actually. But Microsoft made billions copying Apple's operating system and its clearly decided to make more copying Apple's "Think Different" ad campaign — so why not just be out with it?

Microsoft's new "I'm a PC" ad.

Apple's original "Think Different" ad.

Microsoft ad agency confirms: New Seinfeld ad produced, yet not running

Owen Thomas — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:20:00 EDT

The doublespeak coming from Microsoft and its ad agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, in the wake of its "icebreaker" ad campaign featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld, is amazing. Yesterday, Valleywag learned that Microsoft PR was revving up a spin campaign to go along with the ad campaign. Its aim: To make sure no one interpreted its shift to a series of anti-Mac ads as an abandonment of the Seinfeld spots. But Crispin Porter tells Gizmodo that it did, indeed, have another Seinfeld and Gates spot already produced. It's just not scheduled to air. Anytime. As of yet. It could air. Some day. If Microsoft wants it too. So does this mean Seinfeld will return? As a Microsoft flack told us yesterday, "possibly" and "potentially."

Bill Gates spending retirement awkwardly starring in commercials

Jackson West — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 04:00:00 EDT

It's time for the second spot in the Crispin Porter & Bogusky-produced advertising campaign for Microsoft and Windows Vista. Unlike the last one, there's even a computer! Premiering in two parts during tonight's episode of Big Brother on CBS, the premise posits mundane comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates staying in a Seattle home with "real people" (like veteran actor David Costabile) in order to connect with consumers. Cue the hijinx. The question is, will the campaign work?

I may well be too far down the rabbit hole to have any idea if the spots are having the desired warm-and-fuzzy effect on the populace. If anything, they serve to remind us of the opposite: That Gates and Microsoft are so out of touch, the company has to pay an advertising agency $300 million (and Seinfeld $10 million) to lend even the thinnest veneer of approachability. "Cool," presumably, would have cost extra.

How to sell Windows Vista to white people

Jackson West — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:20:00 EDT

Microsoft is pulling out all the stops to buff the image of its startingly unpopular operating system, Windows Vista. Nothing so far has worked. Don't worry, Apple and Linux fans — Microsoft is not doing anything threatening, such as actually improving the software.

Instead, the company is paying aging comedian and (reformed?) Mac enthusiast Jerry Seinfeld $10 million to be the product's spokesmonkey. At least one of the ads looks like it was shot against a Brooklyn backdrop by Michel Gondry, the french auteur beloved by white people. Who's responsible for this sudden rush to be hip?

This sounds like the work of Alex Bogusky, the studvertiser at Mac-worshipping ad firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Guess Gondry won't be touring Apple stores to promote his next film. (Photo by AP/Franka Bruns)

Microsoft's ad agency says it "exists because of the Mac"

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:40:00 EDT

Before it landed Microsoft's $300 million account and hired Jerry Seinfeld as a spokesperson, the admen of agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky met with Fast Company's Danielle Sacks in April 2007. That's when Alex Bogusky explained exactly what kind of computers it uses, and why:

Crispin sort of exists because of the revolution in desktop publishing that the Mac brought about. You could be a small shop and compete against Madison Avenue for the first time because all the tools were in your computer.

Sacks then asked if CP&B plans to force employees off their Macs now that it's Microsoft's agency. Rob Reilly, Bogusky's executive on the Microsoft account, answered: "It's not a matter of forcing people. It's getting them to want to use it. If you can't, you're not going to do great advertising."

Adman Alex Bogusky latest Fast Company coverboy

Jackson West — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:00:00 EDT

Rising ad star Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky is the subject of the cover feature in the latest issue of Fast Company. The story focuses on Microsoft's $300 million deal with the agency to, in Fast Company's words, "crush Apple." Bogusky will be fighting an uphill battle on two fronts — one against Microsoft's perpetually clueless marketing drones, and the other against the fact that Apple's products are, you know, better. Microsoft has even had trouble convincing the public largely trapped in the Windows operating system monopoly to buy Vista, and the company's branding is a complete mess. But hey, check out Bogusky's wavy locks, chiseled features, stylish boots and designer jeans!

Microsoft's "Jackass" non-denial

Jordan Golson — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:40:52 EDT

In response to the rumor that Jackass star Johnny Knoxville is the new Microsoft pitchman, a company spokesperson emails: "Microsoft is planning a consumer advertising campaign with Crispin Porter & Bogusky. We have no other details to share at this time."

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, Microsoft's PR firm, is surely earning their millions with that non-denial. If I were a betting man — and I am — I'd say the rumor of Knoxville's involvement is completely accurate.

"Jackass" star Johnny Knoxville new Microsoft pitchman

Jordan Golson — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:20:58 EDT

Forget Justin Long as Mac and John Hodgman as PC. The latest computer pitchman could be Johnny Knoxville, star of MTV's Jackass series. A reader of the blog Cajun Boy in the City claims to have been in a focus group for an unnamed company he believes is Microsoft. Redmond's marketing execs recently hired ad firm Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the creators of Miller Lite's "Man Laws" campaign and Burger King's live-action "King." The reader writes:

Microsoft [is] in the midst of preparing an advertising campaign that would make it appear that its software and the PCs that run them are a younger, hipper product.

He continues:

They showed us a number of sample ads that seemed to emphasize global community, peace, love, happiness and environmentalism, etc., and how Microsoft products can bring the world together and make it better place. All of us in the group were struck by how Apple-like the ads were. Some even expressed thoughts that they appeared to be straight rip-offs.

(Photo by AP/Paul Hawthorne)