IBM - "IBM Opens in Qatar"

Ogilvy India

Ogilvy India Bengaluru, India

4058

Title	IBM Opens in Qatar
Agency	Ogilvy India
Campaign	Sand DM
Advertiser	IBM
Brand	IBM
Date of First Broadcast/Publication	2012 / 4
Business Sector	Business Services
Story	An IBM invitation that involved a lot of sand. IBM was finding it increasingly difficult getting people to attend its seminars and conventions. Fewer and fewer wanted to travel and spend time out of office or home. So getting them to come to a new office opening seemed a task that had disaster written all over it. That was until Ogilvy came up with an invite with a difference. What invitees got was a large black box that contained a pouch of sand. Yes sand. The TA was instructed to pour the sand onto the enclosed plain white card and then read the message that appeared on it. How it worked was - the sand when poured and dusted off, got stuck to invisible gum on the white card, and revealed a message – “IBM Opens in Qatar”. An interactive device relevant to the desert city of Qatar. The task was very successful and had high recall. 340 invites were mailed out and 125 respondents attended. A 40% response rate. The entire exercise is now going to be replicated in other Middle Eastern markets.
Media Type	Direct Mail
Head of Production	Manu Reddy
Production Manager	Naganandhan Rao
Photographer	Sujith Bose
Chief Creative Officer	Piyush Pandey
Executive Creative Director	Ajanta Barker
Creative Director	Arun KT
Creative Director	Gautam Dev
Art Director	Siju RS