Crispin Wins Microsoft And It’s A New World Order
February 28, 2008
Crispin has won Microsoft. We repeat. Crispin has won Microsoft. Pick your jaw up off the floor. You better recognize. The $300M brand (Pretty. Fucking. Sweet.) has selected the upstart, the rebel, the defy the odds and take prisoners agency of the day. They took JWT and McCann - two agencies that have been around the block and back. Fallon, the runner-up, has got to be shocked.
This is where you must sit back and consider. You’ve seen the Mac vs. PCs ads. Microsoft is a stalwart. A heavy machine that is the pillar of the economy, of the American way. This is no little brand. This isn’t a burger chain looking to be hip. This is Microsoft. The software titan has bypassed the death stars, the agencies with all the resources and international locations, hundreds of workers to select Crispin. The game has changed and permanently. The Rebel Alliance has won.
February 28, 2008 at 9:06 am
[...] Porter + Bogusky win Microsoft. It’s being praised as a “rebel alliance win” and although Microsoft are saying that McCann will remain the lead agency, a yearly spend of [...]
February 28, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Why is this such a shock? Is there anyone out there who didn’t think Crispin would win? An agency of their size and stature isn’t an upstart or an outlaw. It’s the Establishment. And just look at who they were up against: Fallon is a once-great agency that has lost much of its luster. Crispin’s victory was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Whether this is a match made in heaven is another story. Granted, if anyone can successfully reposition Microsoft in the eyes of the public, it’s Crispin. But still — they didn’t do anything for Gateway, their Earthlink work was uninspired at best and their Ask.com campaign hasn’t moved the needle. Will they be able to work their magic for Microsoft? Only time will tell.
February 28, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Crispin is most definitely NOT the Rebel Alliance. They were maybe like four or five years. I’m not saying they’re the Dark Side, but c’mon, they’re a big ole agency conglomerate now.
Where’s all the people that were spreading rumors about Fallon winning this pitch?
February 28, 2008 at 3:40 pm
It’s not a shock, but it is interesting to us for the reasons stated above.
And you know us AdNerd, everyone who isn’t one of these heavy clunky pieces of machinery doing good work belongs to the Rebel Alliance - Droga to CP+B and Stick and Move and The Happy Corp and and and… the alliance is made up for many. Plus, we love making the Star Wars references. We just can’t get enough. NERD! For sure.
As for the Fallon rumors… we heard ‘em, too. But… the winner is the winner, so…
Talk later,
AS
February 28, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Hardly shocking. Remember, CPB is a billion dollar agency now. And even their Amex b2b stuff looks responsible. But let’s not forget, once upon a time Wieden & Kennedy was Microsoft’s AOR. This will be a rocky marriage, to be sure.
February 28, 2008 at 5:20 pm
The only interesting thing here is how long will the relationship last, and how long it will take Crispin to recover.
Insiders remember that Weiden was Microsoft’s Agency for MANY years, and that Dan Weiden biggest regret was that he had not fired them YEARS before. It cost Weiden untold opportunities for all the energy they hemorrhaged fighting back the techno-orcs in Redmond.
Microsoft is a black hole of creativity, a graveyard for ideas and a prime example of “How not to do..” almost everything.
All covered under the aegis of “innovation”.
Prepare the kool-aid pump.
February 28, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Fallon should have won it. they really need it.
and what’s the last good thing you’ve seen from CPB? Subservient Chicken maybe? They are riding on a lot of hype.
February 28, 2008 at 7:10 pm
this is the second time (after the bk win was the other) that I’ll be curious to see if they can pull off anything good for a “client like this.”
February 28, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Any word on whether McCann SF will have layoffs?
February 28, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I hope Microsoft knows what they’re getting into, and are ready to deal with Bogusky and company. HINT: Don’t tell them ‘no.’
February 28, 2008 at 8:48 pm
What’s the last good thing from CPB, Quincy? How about Whopper Freakout? The Coke Zero “taste infringement” commercial? The VW “Safe Happens” campaign?
I grant you that Crispin is ridiculously overhyped and that their flaws and failure are often glossed over or ignored completely by the press and (most) blogs.
Still even all the hot air can’t disguise the fact that they are still just about the best agency out there, missteps and all.
February 28, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Taste infringement was good? Wow, you have low standards.
The other two I’ll concur with, even though Safe Happens was already done in Canada before this.
February 28, 2008 at 10:54 pm
[...] agency tagged advertising, Crispin, Microsoft at 2:54 pm by Ben It seems like everyone from Agency Spy to Gawker is announcing Crispin’s win of the Microsoft business. A coup for sure but why [...]
February 29, 2008 at 1:33 am
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February 29, 2008 at 1:52 am
I’m a fan and this is a great win for Crispin, but I am concerned this is symptomatic of their evolution from a fringe indie shop to a big brand, churn-it-out and hype the 20% of work that’s good agency. What’s wrong with staying smaller, private, more eclectic and more selective like Wieden??
Another symptom of their growth and perhaps the unwillingness of management to share the spoils ($$)… the loss of top creative people to “here’s a lot o’ cash dude, please make us good” hack factories like Doner, and - to a lesser extent - GSD&M. I think these former creative deputies saw Crispin was headed where every other growth-spurt shop ends up, so they took the money and ran to places indicative of where CPB will be someday, too.
I wish them the best, but it’s hard to keep quality under control when you’re growing like they are.
February 29, 2008 at 5:53 pm
@Bilbo:
I think you may be onto something about Crispin starting to sell out. I did hear from a trustworthy source that the only reason the Boulder office opened was to keep Alex from leaving. Also, alot of creatives are not digging the Boulder office, which has been described to me as a windowless warehouse out in the boondocks. Yay!
In terms of top creative people leaving, you can’t fall much farther than Crispin to Doner. Even Grey NY does better work than Doner. And Detroit advertising lives and dies on the whim of the big 3 car companies, known for the epitome of dinosaur thinking. Hard to understand that one.
February 29, 2008 at 8:00 pm
this is great news for all of the smaller emerging agencies who still have their creative cajones; after CPB arrives at their “300M greener pasture” they will soon find themselves shackled, working for their new slave driver Microsoft, and the creativity will drain, leaving the real pimp shit to come from those agencies who are in it for the passion, ….that grass always looks greener on the other side… You know Pharell refused to work with Paris Hilton (on her so-called music career) no matter what the price was, he reportedly said he “didn’t feel it” …only if agencies thought this way…
February 29, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Crispin is same shit different bag. They’re an advertising agency, organized and run to make a profit, and any pretensions of “art” or “pimp shit” are empty contrivances designed to drive profit, nothing more. Artists make things to reveal deeper human truths, challenge conformity, create beauty, etc… Advertising agencies make things to sell video games and tampons and computer operating systems.
Pretending otherwise is dishonest and self-deluded. I bet the people at Crispin get this, and that’s why they happily pitched Microsoft knowing the only benefit might be vast, overflowing barrels of cash, rather than the awe of some pathetic, creatively confused ad geeks.
March 1, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Man, I bet their first creative brief meeting will be just like the apple ads…
March 2, 2008 at 11:08 pm
these clowns suck donkey balls, and VW’s (the only client they consistently speak of besides Burger King) American sales are dropping so fast it will not be long before VW starts the search for a new home…. Isn’t the goal of advertising to increase sales and ROI? Were sure these turds will not help Microsoft’s cause either; but at least Butt-Plug-osky can submit their lame and tired work for 1 million plus awards!!
March 3, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Seriously, even most of the stuff Crispin wins awards for is way boring. Props to Freakout, but Manthem, ALL the VW work, and the Haggar turd pile are not just bad but embarrassingly so. Goodby, weiden, Fallon etc does work that is just as good if not better without having to suck 20 of the 24 hours in a day out of everyone who works here. It’s a CULT.
March 5, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I wish I would have thought of Butt-Plug-osky.
Back to my burger job. Sigh.
March 28, 2008 at 7:58 pm
[...] just in the “Crispin seems to be everywhere lately” way. Just the other day, I saw that Crispin won Microsoft’s ad business here in Seattle which will put me in close proximity to them once [...]
April 3, 2008 at 9:54 pm
What’s interesting is that now they are tasked with bringing in people who are able to work on microsoft (much needed with so many regular departures now), but are still crying poor when it comes to paying them. How big is this account and how long will Crispin’s “this is the only cool place to work so we have you by the balls” pay-scale hold out?
April 29, 2008 at 9:39 pm
i worked on this pitch. And they totally messed it up. Walt Connelly ran it and had no clue what he was doing, on top of the fact that they hired about 20 ECD freelancers, lots of chiefs and no indians!