IBM’s Management Book
IBM
Issue 2 | July 2008
Agency
Ogilvy Amsterdam
Creative Team
Henk Nieuwenhuis - Copywriter;Willem van Rooij - Art Director;Carl Le Blond - Executive Creative Director
Production Team
Hank van Dijk - Client Services Director; Kim van Doodewaerd - Account Manager; Mariette Hamer - Strategy Consultant; Saskia Caelen - Account Director
Date
January 2006 - Ongoing
Background
IBM no longer just supplies hard- and software: they offer business solutions that help companies succeed. But this fact is little known in the Dutch market. So IBM asked Ogilvy Amsterdam to write a brochure about it. Their challenge was to demonstrate IBM’s business relevance to CEOs, managers and entrepreneurs who (a) think IBM is just for IT and (b) don’t have time to read brochures.
Idea
Ogilvy Amsterdam’s solution was to focus on the end-benefit to the target group and bring IBM’s business relevance to life. They decided not to do a brochure, but instead to offer the thing managers turn to when they want to improve their busine a management book. Entitled The 4 pillars of effective business, the book was co-written by IBM’s market manager for Innovation and On Demand Business Martin Jurgens and Ogilvy Amsterdam’s copywriter and specialist in B2B communication Henk Nieuwenhuis.
2,500 copies of the book were sent in a luxurious box to CEOs in the Netherlands. 6,000 books were distributed amongst IBM employees and 4,000 were placed in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Business Lounges, the IBM Forum and given away by IBM sales managers. Copies of the book can be ordered for free on the webportal www.slagvaardigondernemen.nl, and the English version of the site, www.effectivebusiness.eu, will be live soon.
Results
More than 12,000 copies have reached the target audience already. 2,200 copies have been ordered on the webportal and a second print run is about to be published. Due to the success in the Netherlands, English and German versions are due to be published as well.
Target Audience
CEOs and entrepreneurs.
Size
2,500 mailings of the book, 6,000 books spread amongst IBM employees, 4,000 distributed in airport lounges, the IBM Forum or by IBM sales managers.
Our Thoughts
99% of all managers seem to think salvation will come in a book. Witness the number of ‘How To Succeed’ books on shelves in airport bookshops. Now here’s salvation from IBM. Free. Our salutations to the copywriter who actually sat down and wrote all 92 pages of it. David Ogilvy understood that the book could be an incredibly successful advertising medium. ‘Confessions of an Advertising Man’ turned his own company from a minnow in New York to a global giant. Good to see his agency in the Netherlands treading where the Master trod.