10 BIG THINKERS FOR BIG BUSINESS

Among the many movie tie-ins that the new "Star Wars" episode has spawned, one stands out as particularly inventive: sithsense.com, where you can play 20 questions with Darth Vader. "Think of an object," he commands in his baritone. Then, between much heavy breathing, he asks his questions, and you click on answers like yes, no, sometimes, etc., as he taunts you: "I have searched the depths of your mind. It did not take me very long." Every now and then, the eponymous Burger King emerges to whisper suggestions in Vader's ear. So far, the site has logged more than 3.7 million hits.

Score another success for the creative team at Crispin Porter + Bogusky--the ad agency behind the effort--and executive creative director Alex Bogusky, 41, whose surfer-dude facade masks one of the most visionary minds in advertising. Since he joined the agency in 1989, he has helped transform CP+B from a backwater shop into a $500 million powerhouse. At a time when clients are finding it tougher than ever to connect with consumers, he's invented new ways to reach and titillate elusive audiences. "Alex has thrown out the rules," says Rick Boyko, managing director of Virginia Commonwealth University's Adcenter.

For Bogusky, the medium should match the message. To promote the unconventional Mini Cooper, the agency placed the car in stadium seats on game days and fastened it to the top of an SUV to tour the country. For Virgin Atlantic Airways, which sought to revive its cheeky and sexy personality, CP+B targeted business travelers with a parody of a porn video offered in the adult menu of hotel pay-per-view.

Bogusky wants to engage brands with popular culture. It seems to have worked: the Burger King has lately been appearing on "The Tonight Show." Sometimes, the agency goes even further, venturing to make a brand shape culture. In its 1990s antismoking effort--branded "Truth"--CP+B set out to change teen culture around smoking, forsaking the preachy "Just Say No" for a hip, nonjudgmental campaign that conveyed the dangers of smoking in raw and edgy contexts. More recently the agency took on America's infatuation with big cars in its Mini campaign (one billboard: THE SUV BACKLASH OFFICIALLY STARTS NOW).

For all the flux in the industry, Bogusky believes that things will eventually settle down and a new advertising model will emerge. But "we're not worried about what the answer is," he says. "We're just going to deal with the current, completely screwed-up environment." An environment that seems to suit him just fine.

--Arian Campo-Flores