Picasso and You
IBM Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Issue 4 | July 2008
Agency
OgilvyOne worldwide Kuala Lumpur
Creative Team
Selina Ang - Executive Creative Director;Lee Siew Tin - Creative Director;Tay Kok Khuan - Art Director;Lee Siew Tin - Copywriter
Production Team
Koh Kiam Seng - Production Manager; Lim Yee Ting - DTP Artist; Connie Kuah - Studio Manager
Other Credits
Zed Zulkifli - Account Executive;Diana Thomas - Business Director;Ali Munawar Zakaria - Client Marketing Director
Date
December 2006 - January 2007
Background
To get top CEOs to attend its client appreciation event for the third consecutive year, IBM wanted to push the envelope in terms of the event highlight. It invited National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Dr Spencer Wells, as the event speaker. Dr Wells leads the groundbreaking Genographic Project which traces human migratory history, a project conducted by The National Geographic Society in collaboration with IBM. During the evening, the CEOs would learn how their DNA samples can be used to trace their roots back 60,000 years. There would be no business agenda. The evening’s sole purpose was to entertain and strengthen IBM’s relationship with the CEOs. OgilvyOne’s task was to get 60 of these top CEOs to come to the event.
Idea
The agency’s creative solution hung on the idea that ‘you never know who you could be related to’. Furthermore, they chose to use ‘Art’ for an evening of ‘Science’ to demonstrate IBM’s knowledge of its clients’ interests and passions. They sent an invite in the form of a Picasso painting with the teaser - ‘Could Picasso be a long-lost relative?’ Based on the evening’s promise of tracing one’s roots, it went on to explain how a new scientific breakthrough by National Geographic and IBM allows the CEOs to trace their ancestors back 60,000 years. The creative approach resonated well with the target audience’s appreciation of the finer things in life. What’s more, the possibility of being related to a man like Picasso was not easy to dismiss.
Results
107 CEOs attended - a 43% response rate and 78% above the target for what could have been seen as a potentially low-priority event.
Target Audience
Top CEOs of high value to IBM - busy people for whose time and attention there is a lot of competition
Size
250 invitation packs
Our Thoughts
What with the mass migration of peoples 60,000 years ago, it’s quite possible a copywriter in Kuala Lumpur is related to an art director in, say, Paris. This was the intriguing premise behind IBM’s invitation to CEOs to an evening about human genetics. Mind you, imagine how you’d feel if you found out you were the distant cousin of um…George Bush?