IBM: IBM GOES TED

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Sponsorship

Advertiser: IBM

Product/Service: SMARTER PLANET CAMPAIGN

Date of First Appearance: Jul 1 2009 12:00AM

Entrant Company: MINDSHARE, London, UNITED KINGDOM

Co-creator: Luke Tipping (Mindshare)

Project management: Mike Harland (Mindshare)

Project management: Jeremy Way (Mindshare)

Social media: Dhiren Shingadia (Mindshare)

Media placement: Print - Sponsored Bound-In Supplement - Wired Magazine - 3rd September 2009

Media placement: Print - DPS Sponsored Editorials - Wired Magazine - 3rd September 2009

Media placement: Print - FP Sponsored Editorials - Wired Magazine - 3rd September 2009

Media placement: Print - FP Ad - Wired Magazine - 3rd September 2009

Media placement: Online Microsite Creation/sponsorship Including Competition 2 X HPTO, And ROS Ad - Wired.co.uk - 13th July 2009

Media placement: Blogger Outreach - Various Bloggs - 3rd September 2009



Results and Effectiveness

IBM’s TED content was so compelling that it simply had to be shared. The fellows’ stories were watched nearly half a million times, attracting more than 1,200 positive blog posts.
The result has been a sea change in perceptions of IBM: key brand metrics are up by an average of 8%. 'Innovates in a way that matters to me' up 12%.
A highly targeted partnership actively managed to bring benefits to both TED and its fellows has changed attitudes to IBM: Smarter Planet now has an audience.



Creative Execution

Thanks to IBM, the TED fellows didn’t just get to attend the TED conference, they were able to stand up and tell their stories. Not just to delegates, but to speak to the world.
Their three minute talks became public property, available online and designed to be shared. We made the world’s only female high altitude archaeologist and high-tech magician famous globally.
We turned our partnership into a content generation engine for both the TED website and its YouTube channel, positioning IBM and its mission at the heart of the Smarter Planet movement.
The partnership also gave the brand permission to be part of the TED Global conference, showcasing its innovative technology directly to its target audience in a style and location where they would listen.
We amplified the relationship via competitions and content in Wired and blogger outreach.



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

IBM has a mission: to deliver a Smarter Planet by combining massive amounts of data with clever computing.
The trouble was that the target audience of forward-thinking business folk simply weren’t interested in finding out more. They thought IBM was run by robots and switched off whenever it said anything.
Our strategy was to find other smart people, a unique group of really amazing people with fantastic stories. IBM would help them tell the world what they were doing and demonstrate in a positive and very human way what its passion for a Smarter Planet was all about.
We developed a unique partnership with TED, a not-for-profit organisation that celebrates innovation and a smarter planet. IBM would make TED’s high-profile conference even better by supporting the TED Fellows, a group of 25 young world changers, and for the first time enable them to talk about their projects.