While several other speakers addressed the future of the ad business during last week’s AICP Lecture Series, Ogilvy & Mather (O&M), New York’s Steve Hayden provided a perspective from the past to shed insight into IBM’s present as well as upcoming prospects. Hayden, the president of worldwide branding services/worldwide creative for the IBM account at O&M, talked about how IBM was able to re-brand itself after some shaky years. Hayden was originally slated to share the AICP podium with Joe Pytka of Venice, Calif.-based PYTKA, who has directed numerous IBM spots. But a scheduling conflict prevented Pytka from attending the session.
Prefacing his presentation with some self-deprecating comments about his nervousness, Hayden recalled that when he was hired by O&M in ’94, the media was filled with reports of IBM’s downturn from a highly regarded brand to Big Blue Dinosaur. At that same time, he said, O&M was experiencing its own setbacks, and he was attracted to the job because "both organizations were troubled and needed to reinvigorate themselves."
Hayden related that at first, the agency had individual creatives come up with ideas for the account, but the problem, he said, was that no one was in charge, which led to a disastrous presentation to the client. Then, recalled Hayden, Bill Hamilton, a creative at the agency, said "If we can’t have a big idea, let’s have a small idea that works." The "Subtitles" campaign, which featured ordinary people discussing how technology impacted them, was born.
Hayden said that when the original "Subtitles" spots were produced, the traditional time-consuming function of testing story boards was still in effect. That changed in late ’96 when IBM awarded the Lotus account to O&M. "We really had to pitch the account," related Hayden, noting that IBM intended to keep Lotus a separate brand, and Lotus was happy with its then incumbent agency Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulous, Boston. "We had seven days to do a campaign to prove to Lotus that we could get their brand back in public awareness." The pitch entailed creating three spots for the software maker with comedian Denis Leary, which were helmed by Pytka. "A lot of the stuff for [those spots] was written on the set," said Hayden. "[It worked] because it’s a matter of small teams and trust. We’ve known Joe Pytka for a long time A and the beauty of Joe Pytka is that if you have a script in twenty minutes or less, you will have another commercial.
Hayden then related that one of the principles that has helped the agency is overshooting. "Shoot more executions-not just at random, but if you have an idea [on the set], then have the freedom to execute it," he said, adding that many of the letterbox spots never existed in script form, but happened on the set. He then talked about how the campaign evolved from "Internet solutions," the original tagline, which sounded clunky, to the current e-business tag, and how IBM allowed the agency to create spots without benefit of testing. "Normally, it would take IBM a full twelve months to figure out that e-business was what they should use," said Hayden, "by which time a competitor who is nimbler and faster would have already done it. How do you get there quicker? Well, make some commercials and make up a logo and do it. Don’t wait for the process to grind on, or someone else will kill you, so that’s what we did."
Hayden then discussed the importance of building relationships with directors and of bringing young creatives on shoots "even if the client isn’t paying." Working closely with directors, said Hayden, allows for quick turnaround on spots, which IBM has been able to do when the need arises. Hayden noted that O&M has worked with directors such as Pytka; Ted Demme of Creative Film Management International, New York; John O’Hagan of bicoastal/international hungry man; and Frank Todaro of bicoastal/international @radical.media. Hayden concluded his remarks with slides showing the positive media coverage IBM has received about going from "Big Blue Dinosaur to e-business animal." He also showed some new spots for IBM’s new online store. Finally, he said that O&M’s success, and the chances it has been able to take with IBM would not have been possible without the support and trust of the client.
