Advertiser: IBM
Agency: OGILVY NEW YORK
Category: Corporate Image & Information
Advertising campaign: IBMBLR
Photographers: Jake Chessum
Illustrators: Carl De Torres
Copywriters: David (Ogilvy/Mather)
Art Directors: Denise Zurligen (Ogilvy/Mather)
Creative Directors: Greg Gerstner (Ogilvy/Mather)
Art Directors: Okan Usta (Ogilvy/Mather)
Art Directors: Ramona Todoca (Ogilvy/Mather)
Illustrators: Johnny Budden
Copywriters: Lauren Costa (Ogilvy/Mather)
Art Directors: Susan Murphy (Ogilvy/Mather)
Illustrators: Luke Watkins
Creative Directors: Ryan Blank (Ogilvy/Mather)
Creative Directors: Steve Simpson (Ogilvy/Mather)
Photographers: Craig Cutler
Illustrators: I Love Dust
Animation: Joe Digerolamo (Punga)
Associate Creative Directors: Niels West (Ogilvy/Mather)
Photographers: Pict Estudio
Creative Directors: Susan Westre (Ogilvy/Mather)
Creative Directors: Alfonso (Ogilvy/Mather)
Copywriters: Anne Davidson (Ogilvy/Mather)
Photographers: Christian Weber
Art Directors: Eddie Pak (Ogilvy/Mather)
Illustrators: Faruk Kalaycioglu
Copywriters: Fred Kovey (Ogilvy/Mather)
Copywriters: Jessica Drew (Ogilvy/Mather)
Art Directors: Jillian Abramson (Ogilvy/Mather)
Copywriters: Joe Perry (Ogilvy/Mather)
Illustrators: La Mosca
Copywriters: Lauren Miller (Ogilvy/Mather)
Creative Directors: Mike Hahn (Ogilvy/Mather)
Associate Creative Directors: Ricardo Lopes (Ogilvy/Mather)
Creative Directors: Sam Mazur (Ogilvy/Mather)
Design Director: Sid Tomkins (Ogilvy/Mather)
Implementation
We set out to find the interesting stories lurking within IBM (especially in its R&D division) that we could collide with topics of broad public interest. These were not the topics that we would conventionally advertise, but while they were less directly commercial, they were no less interesting. Once we found them, we created highly engaging content and deployed it across a number of social channels including IBM’s own Youtube channel and a dedicated tumblr we created at ibmblr.com.
Client Brief Or Objective
IBM is the 3rd largest brand in the world; but since it sold off its PC division it’s not sold any products to consumers. Our objective was to give IBM consumer presence within the world of social media, encouraging people to engage with our content and share it themselves. This meant reaching beyond our sB2B target audience to present IBM in a way that connected with everyone. We knew earned media “critical mass” couldn’t be achieved with a B2B audience alone. Our strategy was a constant presence of new content to keep IBM present in technology and cultural online conversations.
Execution
We showed people a side of IBM they don’t generally see. For 20 years IBM has filed more patents than any other company; it spends more on R&D than any other private enterprise. The questions its researchers are probing are of real value to all of us as humans, not just to IBM as a business. This was a story that needed to be told, but via shareable and engaging communications not corporate propaganda. The best measure of the campaign’s creativity was the fact that people valued it enough to share.
Outcome
“Designed to Be Shared” is an overall approach rather than a specifically KPI’d discrete piece of activity. Picking one element, our 5X5 videos announcing IBM Research’s technology predictions, we reached 1.35MM views in just 50 days, by far the most viral rollout of any IBM video content ever. As other elements (e.g. our Atomic Film) have only just launched, we still await those results. Our overall goal is a heightened presence for IBM within online conversation and culture, and our ongoing evaluation plan is designed to assess just this.