BT to challenge likes of IBM with image ads

Instead, the US$46.2 million global programme looks to position the brand as an IT and networking services company, in the space currently occupied by the likes of IBM, Accenture and HP.

"For the last three years you've seen a major shift in what BT is doing on a global, international scale," said Danny Garvey, director of marketing for BT Global Services. "We are now a provider of IT and networking services and we intend to become a global and leading provider."

Consisting of television, press and online executions, almost half of the budget ($21.3 million) is being spent outside the UK, which Garvey sees as particularly significant.

"This is twice the amount we've ever invested outside the UK," he said. "Asia is becoming an increasingly key market and we have some very challenging and aggressive growth targets, but ones we believe we can meet."

BT worked with St Luke's to create the global executions, which are based on a theme of a futuristic, digitally- networked world. Starcom handled media.

"It's very much based on a futuristic view of the world, and was inspired by things like Blade Runner and The Fifth Element," said Garvey. "It serves as a metaphor for a digitally-networked economy."

Within this cityscape, a series of characters that relate to different business types are shown to thrive, with BT at their hearts. With BT confidently proclaiming its status as the first global or regional telecom company to offer both IT and networking services, the ads attempt to recast the brand as the solutions provider of choice for top 500 global companies.

"The networking and services and IT market is traditionally polarised between the telecoms providers and big IT players," said Garvey. "We believe we are the first global telecoms provider to provide a range of both IT and networking services."

The multilingual campaign will run in international and local media across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas.

Garvey sees the Asian proposition as a different one from the other regions, given the traditional skew of BT's competition in the region. "The competitors in Asia are still in the telecoms area, compared to Europe, where they are IT companies," said Garvey. "We have to win hearts and minds that we are a good networking services provider, but at the same time we are providing a range of advanced services into the market as well."

Garvey added that awareness levels of BT's offering currently stand at around 21 per cent. "We need to shift that by about 10 per cent over the three-year duration of the campaign."