Obstacles test agility of new Microsoft ads; Will tech giant's $250M campaign deliver big-business customers?

B to B, February, 2001 by FROOK, JOHN EVAN

Microsoft Corp.'s $250 million b-to-b advertising campaign, launched two weeks ago, represents a leap of faith for the software giant.

Dubbed ``Agility,'' it presents Microsoft as a stable, reliable and trusted technology brand, one capable of meeting the demands of business customers. Developed by McCann-Erickson Worldwide, San Francisco, the campaign represents Microsoft as a provider of high-end technology solutions-a la IBM Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co.-versus desktop applications.

But while McCann won praise for its creative execution, branding experts were not convinced Microsoft's largest-ever campaign would hit its intended mark.

Among the complaints: The term ``agility'' is too generic to make an impact, the...

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