Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders
IBM is the latest brand to make advertising that is actually useful.
With the help of Ogilvy France, IBM made a series of outdoor ads that are functional and helpful to passersby. One is a poster that swoops out as a bench; another ad forms a canopy to provide shade and shelter; and one ad acts as a ramp over stairs.
The ads are part of IBM’s “People for Smarter Cities” campaign, which is an initiative and ideas sharing platform that encourages people to come up with and share their ideas about use technology to improve their cities.
These useful IBM ads are the latest in a small wave of ads recently that provide actual value and utility to the public. Scrabble recently brought free Wi-Fi to areas of Paris as part of an ad campaign, and Nivea created solar-powered phone-charger ads for people on the beaches of Brazil. Hopefully, this is a trend that continues. In the age of real-time marketing and branded content, beyond entertainment value, it’s nice to see ads that truly are functional, helpful and free.
More in Marketing
Future of Marketing Briefing: One more helping, for gluttons still hungry for Publicis and PepsiCo takes
Yes, more thoughts on what it means, or doesn’t, that Publicis walked away from competing for Coca-Cola’s media dollars to grab PepsiCo’s instead.
Instacart launches custom AI assistants for retailers
Retail giants like Walmart, Kroger and Amazon have launched AI assistants allowing consumers to ask for recommendations or curated shopping lists. Now, Instacart has made it easier for other retailers such as regional grocers to follow in their footsteps.
AI reshapes agency economics, but their contracts are still scrambling to catch up
AI is changing agency work. Agencies are adding provisions to existing contracts instead of rewriting their MSAs.