Alex Bogusky Makes Inc. 5000 Cool?
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008Alex Bogusky was on the cover of Inc. magazine a few months ago with the headline something like “Can this Hot Guy Make Microsoft Cool?” Well, Crispin Porter + Bogusky are off to a good start w/ the Jerry Seinfeld / Bill Gates commercials, and even better, the PC commercials. So, I pose the question – did Bogusky make the Inc. 5000 Conference cool? Having been to 2 consecutive years of conferences, I can clearly say that it was already very cool before he came along, but Bogusky did a really good job of speaking to more than just creativity but accomplishing business objectives in a creative way. Here are my notes:
CP & B: 900 employees, 900 freaks, early on, worked with a ton of underdogs. Very Scrappy.
The Truth Campaign- Anti-Smoking
Change the cultural perceptions around a product Brand around youth rebellion. Rebellion is great. This choice is not rebellion, it’s about being manipulated by a huge machine (tobacco campaigns).
Advertising must play into PR and web, social “Playing with your consumer”
Molson Beer- 200 different labels “I’m not wearing any underwear”
Creativity is just a way to leverage business goals
Burger King Whopper Freak out- people got really pissed off with no Whopper. Super funny.
• embrace the creative process – makes it fun
• “you know what you ought to do,” have someone fill in the answer
CP+B 1 Rule: NEVER LIE. NO FIBS. NO BS. (more…)



I am excited to join a great panel for an upcoming Software Association of Oregon event called 


