IBM Canada has partnered with Canwest and CBC to launch the editorial driven Smart Shift: Conversation for Change project, which seeks to engage Canada’s C-level executives in conversations about the environment, communities and business and, as the sole advertiser, build affinity for IBM and its “Smarter Planet” brand positioning.
The 14-week program will explore seven themes designed to engage senior business leaders across various media vehicles, said Audrey Davidson, account director, Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, IBM’s creative agency of record. Davidson said the project is based on research that suggests advertising aligned with editorial content relevant to its audience raises awareness and brand esteem.
In this case, IBM is trying to raise awareness of its Smarter Planet agenda, which launched in Canada earlier this year.
Though IBM doesn’t drive the editorial content, the company’s public relations team will offer content and provide information as requested, said Carolyn Knott, director, marketing and communications, IBM Canada.
The Financial Post and CBC determined the topics that would be most compelling to their readers and viewers, and came up with the following themes: “Building sustainable value,” “Architects for change,” “Improving economic global governance,” “The Smart City,” “Management, Canadian Style,” “Resetting Risk Management” and “Energizing Energy.”
“We would like to stimulate conversation and encourage participation by business leaders,” said Knott.
The platform is based on the idea that “every human being, company, organization, city, nation, natural system and man-made system is becoming interconnected, instrumented and intelligent,” she said. “This is leading to new savings and efficiency–but perhaps as important, new possibilities for progress,” she said.
IBM and its agencies (Mindshare, Neo@Ogilvy, O&M) conducted an RFP to determine which media outlets would be best suited to the program, said Davidson.
“As we reviewed the submissions, we saw that the integration of the Financial Post and CBC could produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate parts,” said Knott.
Each media partner will develop its own editorial content relevant to the current theme, however a common widget will allow readers to access content from both the CBC and Financial Post sites (CBC.ca/SmartShift and FinancialPost.com/SmartShift).
Each new topic will be introduced Sunday evening on Canwest-owned Global News, and explored online and in print that week, explained Davidson. The campaign kicked off Sunday night with a two-minute feature on traffic congestion.
Post journalist Diane Francis has conducted a Q&A with an industry expert relevant to the topic, which was to appear in Tuesday’s Financial Post magazine, said Davidson.
CBC has aligned some of its programming from The Nature of Things and Mansbridge One on One.
The campaign also lives on Facebook and Twitter, and encourages the audience to participate with all of these topics share experiences or thoughts, said Davidson.
Readers that photograph a barcode in the front section of the Financial Post with their cellphone will be directed to the mobile portion of the campaign, said Davidson.
The agencies worked together to develop the multi-media program that allows the users to consume the information no matter which channel they prefer from a media perspective, said Davidson.
The hope is to expand this effort beyond the seven themes and into 2010, said Davidson.
