17525: IBM Reboots Advertising And Media, Boots WPP.

 

Advertising Age reported IBM named Stagwell its White holding company for creative duties, which will be co-handled by White advertising agencies Anomaly and Code and Theory.

 

Incumbent WPP White advertising agency Ogilvy declined to participate in the review, just as incumbent WPP Media declined to participate in an earlier media review that was won by Omnicom.

 

Surely serious behind-the-scenes politics persuaded WPP units to give up continuing roughly 32 years of service for IBM.

 

After all, Ogilvy just won Network of the Year at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, establishing its creative chops far exceed those of Anomaly and Code and Theory—or any White advertising agency in the Stagwell stink factory.

 

Ad Age headlined AI capability and speed won the business for Stagwell.

 

Huh? WPP boasts unmatched and unprecedented AI ingenuity. Plus, the corporate website declares WPP Production delivers content at speed and scale, blah blah blah.

 

Whatever true circumstances ignited the scenario, WPP probably now thinks IBM stands for Insane Business Massacre—or Immense Bowel Movement.

 

IBM hires Stagwell as lead creative partner—AI capability and speed won out

 

By Brian Bonilla

 

IBM has selected Stagwell as its new lead creative partner following a competitive review that ended the tech company’s roughly 32-year relationship with Ogilvy. The assignment comes as IBM seeks to sharpen its positioning around enterprise AI and accelerate its marketing efforts.

 

Stagwell’s Anomaly and Code and Theory will jointly lead the account, helping evolve IBM’s “Let’s Create Smarter Business” campaign across channels and geographies.

 

WPP’s Ogilvy previously stated that it declined to participate in the review, which was led by consultancy 3C Ventures.

 

IBM named Omnicom its global media agency earlier this year. In that review, WPP Media was the incumbent and declined to defend the business.

 

IBM marks a significant win for Stagwell, the 13th-largest agency company according to Ad Age Datacenter, which has been looking to prove its global chops. This year, Stagwell has secured key creative wins with Mondelēz International, Hershey and gaming entertainment company Allwyn AG.

 

The appointment comes as IBM expands its enterprise AI offerings with new products unveiled at its Think 2026 conference in May. The new agencies will focus on promoting some of IBM’s tools, such as Watsonx Orchestrate, which helps enterprises manage and deploy AI, and IBM Bob, an AI coding tool for businesses, along with brand positioning work.

 

The review prioritized three capabilities: strong creative, strong tech and an ability to help IBM “move in a lot more flexible way, with a lot more speed” than it “had in the past,” said Jonathan Adashek, IBM’s senior VP, marketing and communications.

 

“Flexibility is about taking advantage of opportunities that come quickly and really shortening the creative cycle for us,” Adashek said.

 

Those requirements reflect broad changes underway within IBM. The company has increasingly embraced AI across its own operations, positioning itself as “client zero” for its technology. Adashek said IBM has removed $4.5 billion in costs over the past three years, largely through AI and automation, and plans to remove another $1 billion this year.

 

Before the introduction of AI, IBM’s marketing creatives spent 80% of their time on derivative assets, he said, noting that the amount has been reduced “substantially” to below 40%.

 

A major factor in the decision was “The Machine,” Stagwell’s agentic operating system that connects with a client’s existing tools. Adashek said he was impressed that The Machine integrated insights from across the broader Stagwell network, citing The Harris Poll as an example. “The insights they can bring from other parts of the Stagwell organization—to not make it just an Anomaly and Code team … I think that’s essential,” Adashek said.

 

Just as important was Stagwell’s willingness to work within IBM’s own systems rather than require the client to adopt an agency-owned platform. “We’re going to work together with the client on enhancing their tech stack, rather than pushing them into a closed or walled garden on our part,” said Stagwell Chairman and CEO Mark Penn.

 

For IBM, that philosophy closely mirrors how it works with enterprise clients. “Our data is our data, and it’s sort of that special sauce that gives us the IBM flavor,” Adashek said.

 

Rather than dividing creative responsibilities among multiple shops, IBM wanted one lead partner capable of supporting the entire business.

 

“Fundamentally, as an organization, if we have too many different angles, then we’re not aligned at a central point. Before too long, people don’t understand what you’re trying to do, and then you stand for nothing,” Adashek said.

 

IBM expects the first work from the partnership to debut around the US Open in August, including new TV creative as part of a broader campaign spanning multiple channels. IBM is the official AI and cloud partner of the US Open.

 

The IBM creative pitch process

 

Adashek said that he attended early chemistry meetings and received reports after each pitch meeting. Neither he nor Penn sat through pitch meetings. Instead, IBM intentionally left the evaluation to the executives who will manage the relationship day to day.

 

“I wanted the team to be engaged,” Adashek said. “The team was so compelled by the content, by the approach, by the tools, they said this is the way we need to go.”

 

Penn said his own role was limited to reviewing work behind the scenes and ensuring that the agencies had the right mix of capabilities.

 

“I’ve been around enough to know that this is never about the CEOs,” Penn said. “It’s about the people on the account team.”

17433: FYI Omnicom IBM WTF.

Advertising Age reported Omnicom offset its Acura creative business loss by landing the IBM global media account.

 

Given the Acura account was creative, any fired drones are unlikely to benefit from the IBM media acquisition.

 

Then again, IBM is conducting a creative review and prefers to consolidate its marketing partners roster. And incumbent White advertising agency Ogilvy is declining to defend its 32-year relationship. So, Omnicom could eventually pick up IBM creative duties too.

 

No IBM technology exists to compute, coordinate, and clarify the Corporate Cultural Collusion, conspiring, and chaos ahead.

 

Omnicom wins IBM’s global media account

 

By Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla

 

IBM has awarded Omnicom its global media account following a review, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.

 

Omnicom Media referred calls for comment to IBM, which could not be immediately reached. The review was handled by Michael Kassan’s 3C Ventures, which wasn’t immediately available for comment. Publicis Groupe was a finalist in the review, Ad Age has learned. The holding company did not return a request for comment.

 

IBM’s global media spend totaled $190 million in 2025, down sharply from $330 million in 2024, according to COMvergence estimates. Initiative, which is now part of Omnicom following its acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos., had been handling IBM’s media business in EMEA, according to COMvergence.

 

WPP Media, the incumbent, declined to defend the media account. And WPP’s Ogilvy, IBM’s longtime creative partner, is not participating in the tech giant’s ongoing creative review.

 

“Ogilvy has made the decision not to participate in the upcoming creative RFP for IBM,” Ogilvy said in a statement shared with Ad Age in March. “We are immensely proud of our 32-year partnership, a tenure nearly unrivaled in this industry. Together, we have built one of the world’s most iconic brands through campaigns that defined eras of technological progress … We celebrate our shared history and wish the IBM team continued success.”

 

IBM stunned the ad world on May 24, 1994, when it summarily fired more than 40 ad agencies and consolidated its then-$500 million global ad account at Ogilvy in what at the time was the biggest-ever account switch. Ogilvy resigned the Microsoft Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. accounts to take on IBM.

 

IBM’s advertising and promotional expenses totaled $1.129 billion in 2025, down from $1.173 billion in 2024, according to its annual filing. It reported advertising and promotional spending of $977 million back in 1994; that figure included spending beyond the advertising account that landed at Ogilvy.

 

IBM adds to a run of media wins at Omnicom that also includes On and Delta Air Lines—retained after the holding company deployed a bespoke team to handle the account, as first reported by Ad Age’s Agency Review Tracker—and Raymour & Flanigan. It also recently lost the U.S. media account for SC Johnson to WPP, and its business with CVS Health, Bristol Myers Squibb and Gilead Sciences is facing review.

17413: IBM Dumps BM On WPP.

 

Campaign reported Ogilvy is no longer the White advertising agency of record for IBM, ending a 32-year alliance.

 

That surely adversely affects WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s chances of collecting the full $19.1 million payout spotlighted in a previous post.

 

Looks like Rose couldn’t leverage any relationship connections from the IBM and Microsoft partnership.

 

It’s not a good sign for the White holding company—er, White single operating company—aspiring to be a trusted growth partner for clients in the era of AI.

 

IBM and Ogilvy end 32-year creative partnership

 

The WPP-owned agency has been the technology brand’s creative AOR since 1994.

 

By Luz Corona

 

Campaign has learned that WPP’s Ogilvy is no longer IBM’s creative agency of record after 32 years of partnership.

 

The partnership began in 1994 following IBM’s decision to consolidate its US $500 million advertising account with Ogilvy. Past campaigns include Solutions for a Small Planet, E-Business, Smarter Planet, Watson, Think and Let’s Create. IBM’s Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities campaign, created by Ogilvy France, won the Outdoor Grand Prix in 2013 at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. IBM also became the first B2B brand to be inducted as the corporate honoree into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2022. The brand and agency commemorated the 30-year milestone in August 2024 with a celebration at the agency’s global headquarters at 3 World Trade Center.

 

“Ogilvy has made the decision not to participate in the upcoming creative RFP for IBM. We are immensely proud of our 32-year partnership, a tenure nearly unrivaled in this industry,” an Ogilvy spokesperson told Campaign in a statement. “Together, we have built one of the world’s most iconic brands through campaigns that defined eras of technological progress. While we have chosen not to move forward in this process, we celebrate our shared history and wish the IBM team continued success.”

 

According to a source with knowledge of the relationship, this was a business decision made because of longstanding balance-of-trade friction between WPP and IBM, rather than a reflection of the creative partnership. IBM previously held a media account review in December 2025. Incumbent WPP Media decided not to participate in the review.

 

The news follows WPP CEO Cindy Rose’s recent announcement to divide the holding company into four operating units — WPP Media, WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Enterprise Solutions. They will be led across four regions: North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC. “We don’t want to be a holding company anymore,” Rose told Campaign in an interview after announcing the new three-year strategy, “Elevate28,” in a bid to stem its worsening revenue decline.

 

Campaign has reached out to IBM for comment.

15873: IBM DEI AI BS, CONT’D.

Another quick scan of the IBM scheme spotlighted in the previous post revealed the Advertising Playbook for AI Fairness 360. The 55-page document—which reads like something crafted by IT wonks and pseudo-strategists—stated the following in its introduction:

 

In the summer of 2021, IBM Watson Advertising initiated a research effort using tools developed by IBM Research to explore bias in advertising – to identify and mitigate bias within campaign data, algorithms, and outcomes. That research uncovered that discrimination could exist in the tools we employ.

 

Gee, what prompted IBM to consider the subject matter in 2021? After all, it’s hardly a new area of investigation.

 

Dr. Timnit Gebru, a recognized leader in AI ethics research, co-authored a paper critiquing facial recognition technology that reportedly got her ousted by Google in 2020.

 

Deborah Raji has been studying AI since at least 2018.

 

Were any experts like Gebru and Raji integrated into IBM’s endeavor? And what does IBM DEI really look like? In a 2021 Forbes interview, IBM CHRO Nickle LaMoreaux mouthed the common dodge, “We are extremely proud of our diversity, equity, and inclusion history. That being said, we're not nearly where we want to be.” From a discrimination perspective, the tech giant has a checkered past and present—and only recently bailed out of the facial recognition business.

 

This is a familiar game plan too, replete with diversionary stunts that block the truth and ultimately defeat diversity. It all makes the Advertising Playbook for AI Fairness 360—and IBM—appear fishy, fuzzy and fucked up.

15872: IBM Has A BS Problem.

This IBM scheme is beyond bizarre, presenting the Advertising Fairness Pledge to address bias in advertising technology and data collection.

 

Sorry, but advertising does not have a bias problem—rather, advertising agencies have a bias problem. Technology and data collection may represent collateral damages. The root problem involves Adland’s talent exclusivity and the associated cultural cluelessness, built on a firm foundation of systemic racism.

 

With this divershitty initiative, IBM is declaring, “Let’s Create”—a heat shield.

 

13504: Hidden Figures Of Diversity.

IBM professed its commitment to diversity via a campaign inspired by Hidden Figures—check out the videos here, here, here, here, here and here. Ogilvy & Mather created the messages. Wonder if OgilvyCulture led the charge. Whatever. IBM should ask the White advertising agency to reveal the hidden figures of its true racial and ethnic makeup.

13104: #WatsonSoWhite.

Advertising Age spotlighted the Ogilvy-created IBM Watson commercials slated to run during the Academy Awards. IBM VP-Content and Global Creative Ann Rubin gushed, “With the diversity of the audience watching, we wanted to reach out in a way that is very consumable through humor and ignite the conversation about cognitive computing.” Huh? Once again, an advertiser allegedly sought to reach a diverse audience, yet hired a painfully White advertising agency. And Ogilvy once again shat out an exclusively White campaign starring Ridley Scott and Carrie Fisher. Hell, even the robots in Fisher’s spot appear to be White.

9451: IBM CEO Trailblazer.

From The Chicago Sun-Times…

IBM names Virginia ‘Ginni’ Rometty first female CEO

By Jordan Robertson AP Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO — IBM Corp. ushered in the first female CEO in the company’s 100-year history on Tuesday.

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty, a veteran at the technology giant famous for its conservative corporate culture, will take over as CEO from Sam Palmisano, IBM announced.

Palmisano has been CEO for nearly a decade and turned 60 this year. He will stay on as chairman.

Rometty, 54, takes over on Jan. 1. She is currently in charge of sales and marketing at the company based in Armonk, New York.

After she takes over the helm at IBM, women will be in charge of two of the world’s largest technology companies. Last month, Meg Whitman was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Whitman had previously joined eBay Inc. when it was a fledgling startup during the dot-com boom and guided it to become an Internet auction powerhouse. She also ran unsuccessfully for California governor last year.

While Whitman’s HP is a sprawling company in disarray, Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM whose focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.

Their appointments are “setting a fabulous example” in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed both companies closely for years.

“It is a good sign,” Bozman said. “It does create an environment in which more of these high-ranking women executives can see that’s within reach. The more that happens, the more normal that will be. I think this might be a great sign that we’ve turned a corner. Certainly the Baby Boomers have wanted this for a long time.”

HP, of course, had another female CEO, Carly Fiorina, but her tenure ended in acrimony when she was forced out in 2005 over disappointing financials and the fallout from her hard-fought battle to buy Compaq Computer.

IBM’s move was unexpected. Palmisano had tamped down earlier talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was “not going anywhere” and that there’s no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.

Palmisano in a statement said that Rometty has led some of IBM’s most important businesses, and was instrumental in the formation of IBM’s business services division. She oversaw IBM’s $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a widely copied company. She is “more than a superb operational executive,” Palmisano said.

“She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company’s future,” Palmisano said. “I know the board agrees with me that Ginni is the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century.”

Bobby Cameron, an analyst with Forrester Research who has worked with IBM in various roles over the years, said that in meetings with Rometty is “engaging” and inquisitive. Her interest in emerging technologies, not just the established sales leaders, is an important characteristic. Cameron thinks she’s an ideal choice to continue Palmisano’s work.

“I think she’s smart. She asks questions; she doesn’t just come in with an agenda, and she’s interested in the leading edge, not just what’s driving volume — all those things are important for a CEO to have,” Cameron said.

Palmisano has the same characteristics, Cameron said.

“I think it will be more of the same, and I think that’s a good thing,” he said.

IBM shares fell $1.16, or 0.6 percent, to $179.20 in extended trading, after the change was announced.

8344: Lenovo Doubles The Exclusivity.

As a follow-up to an earlier post, it was announced that Lenovo chose Saatchi & Saatchi NY to create a new global branding campaign. OK, the client ignores minority contenders and hands the prize to an agency that failed to meet its diversity hiring objectives in recent times. Plus, White agency Ogilvy & Mather retains its lead position on the account. Brilliant.

Lenovo Selects Saatchi for New Global Branding Campaign

PC Maker Says Relationship With Ogilvy Will Continue

By Rupal Parekh

NEW YORK -- After a final-round pitch that included presentations at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week, Lenovo has chosen a new global agency partner, Publicis Groupe’s Saatchi & Saatchi.

According to executives familiar with the situation, the shop beat out stiff competition from MDC Partners’ Crispin Porter & Bogusky and WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather, which has handled Lenovo’s line of “Think”-branded products since the computer maker purchased IBM’s PC division in 2005.

Agencies referred calls to Lenovo, which confirmed Saatchi’s appointment to the roster, while also noting that it doesn’t mean a parting of ways for Ogilvy. “We selected Saatchi & Saatchi to develop a new branding campaign for us, and this is an additional piece of business for us,” a spokesman told Ad Age. “Our existing agency relationship with Ogilvy will continue as is.”

Still, that Lenovo is seeking some fresh brand thinking isn’t surprising considering it has raised the curtain on several new products at CES. Among them, the new “Le Pad” slate, which weighs less than 2 pounds and comes in a variety of colors for about $520 a pop, retailing in China initially. Lenovo also announced thinner and slimmer versions of its ThinkPad laptops and IdeaPad series of netbooks.

The new global branding campaign will be led out of Saatchi’s New York office, which is probably hoping the win marks the start of a busier year on the new-business front than the one it saw in 2010. It’s also the first win under Chief Creative Officer Con Williamson, who jumped to Saatchi from Havas’ Euro RSCG, New York, replacing Gerry Graf.

While the company is a major global player, U.S. spending on the account has plummeted in recent times. According to Kantar Media, Lenovo in 2009 spent a little more than $30 million on domestic measured media, with the majority of it backing the marketing of its ThinkPad line. But between January and October 2010, that figure has dropped to less than $5 million.

7912: Black Enterprise Celebrates 40 Years.

The August 2010 issue of Black Enterprise celebrates the publication’s 40th anniversary. A handful of advertisers offered salutes.


Comcast added a single sentence to its standard diversity ad.


ExxonMobil used weird stock photography to honor BE.


IBM declared BE is good for the planet.

6587: Stamping Out Problems.

Sending the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• The Postmaster General said the post office is in dire financial straits, predicting they’ll run out of money by the end of the year. Gee, they should stock up on Forever Stamps.

• Kobe Bryant and his wife are facing a lawsuit from an ex-housekeeper who charges she was verbally harassed and humiliated. Bryant will probably just buy the woman a diamond ring to shut her up.

• IBM announced plans to dump 5,000 employees. Big Blue is making people blue—with pink slips.

• Chicago radio fans are irked over a decision to dump The Tom Joyner Morning Show for The Steve Harvey Morning Show. Except for White radio fans, who have never heard of either personality.

6059: Volunteer Work Involves Leaving Work.

Volunteering the news in a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• United Airlines reported 2,100 employees voluntarily left their jobs as the airline continues to cut costs. No figures on the number of customers who voluntarily dumped United.

• Candymaker Hershey reported 3Q profits doubled, and the company is optimistic as Halloween and the holidays approach. Wonder if the results will positively affect the profits of dentists.

• IBM reported a 20 percent jump in 3Q profits. Guess PCs did pretty well versus Macs after all.