Useful v. Useless Information
IBM
Issue 6 | July 2008
Agency
OgilvyOne London
Creative Team
Emma DelaFosse – Creative Partner;Charlie Wilson – Creative Partner;Selina Heathcote - Writer;Ryan Wylie – Online Designer;Jamie Romain – Online Designer
Production Team
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Other Credits
Nina Mynk - Planner
Date
January 2008
Background
One of the great problems of living in the so-called information age is the sheer volume of information available and having to sift through it all. Few people suffer from information overload as much as IT managers: looking after servers, workstations, drivers and the like means they have to deal with an enormous amount of new information, much of which becomes outdated and/or irrelevant very quickly. To find the information they and their company need, they often have to waste hours swimming in a sea of out of date, irrelevant data.
Idea
A highly targeted DM piece was created that looks like a 'must-open' parcel from an online retailer such as amazon.com. Within the pack there's a booklet that looks like it should be useful but is in fact filled with amusing examples of useless info. Useless, that is, apart from the IBM section (entitled, 'want to get straight to the useful information?'), which is handily bookmarked with a post-it note, and which draws attention to the fact that IBM can help IT managers take back control.
Results
Not yet available.
Target Audience
IT Managers
Size
2,500 mailings
Our Thoughts
My hat is off to the team for lavishing so much attention and money on the boring information that no one really needs. But is there an argument for saying that you might be a bit more persuasive if you spend as much effort and budget accentuating the positive facets of the product in question? SH