Microsoft will kick off the advertising campaign (spending $200m in the process) for its upcoming Windows XP operating system next week with the slogan, "Yes You Can", after "Prepare to Fly" was scrapped in the wake of the Sept. 11 hijack attacks, company executives said on Thursday.

To start building buzz, a 15-second prime time television "teaser" will debut on Monday Night Football on Oct. 15, Stephanie Ferguson, Microsoft's PC experience marketing director, told reporters. That will be followed with longer 60-second and 30-second ads on Oct. 18 showing people soaring over fields and through offices, in what is an echo of the abandoned flying theme.

And the new Windows theme music? After listening to hundreds of songs, Ferguson said she and her team settled on Madonna's 'Ray of Light'. "It's powerful, it's upbeat, it's positive, it fits with the theme, which is 'Yes You Can'".

Asked if Madonna would perform at the event, Sanford and Ferguson paused with smiles on their faces and glanced at each other before Sanford said people would have to wait and see.

But while the Big Apple bash is still on, the attacks did force marketers to scrap their original slogan, "Prepare to Fly" and focus on "Yes You Can" to convey the idea that Windows XP will let users do more than ever with their computers, Ferguson said.

"We did make some changes," Ferguson said. "We were more explicitly using the term 'fly', never expecting it to be literal but making an analogy for empowerment and freedom."

News source: Reuters