CASE STUDY: IBM China's 'The proposal' viral receives over two million hits

Background

IBM in China is breaking out of the stereotype of being robotic dullards as a technology company. IBM aims to associate the brand with ‘creativity’ and as a tool for adventurous do-it-yourself innovation.

Aim

The viral campaign aims to generate buzz for IBM’s 2009 Rational Software Conference.

Execution

‘The proposal’ is a viral marketing campaign to connect with technology developers. The video showcases a developer, and with the help from his techie friends, puts together a mobile phone light show to propose to his girlfriend.

The video was posted on leading IT blogs, social media and video sites. At the end of the video, viewers were directed to software discussion groups where they could click through to register for the IBM Conference.

Result

‘The proposal’ video generated over 2,200,000 viewers in one month.

It boosted the attendence rate of the IBM Rational Software Conference by 43 per cent.

260,000 people viewed the Conference via webcast, 160 per cent above target. Revenue generated via validated leads was 54 per cent above target.

OgilvyOne Beijing recently made history by becoming the first agency in China to win a prestigious Gold at the Direct Marketing Association’s 2010 International Echo Awards in San Francisco for its IBM ‘The Proposal’ campaign.

It also took home a Silver at the China Effies and Bronze at the AME Awards.



Credits:
Project Rational Software Conference ‘The proposal’
Client IBM 
Creative agency OgilvyOne Beijing
Executive creative director Doug Schiff
Creative director Sean Shi
Art directors Teonghoe Teng, Liu Fang, William Liu
Copywriters Fish Yu, Wei Xu
Account servicing Lily Tung, Kelly Bai, Suya Wang
Agency producers Zhuang Yu, Huiling He 
Production company LightBox
Exposure Online