6 years after IBM invited business leaders to “build a Smarter Planet” we set out to show them the progress made in a new campaign to be launched at IBM’s prestige broadcast sponsorship: the Masters Golf Tournament.

Our goal was to position IBM as the essential technology partner for a new world at work. Our strategy was to show how value – what matters to businesses, societies, individuals – is now “made with” IBM’s key technologies – made with cloud, data etc. And how all of it is “Made with IBM”.

Rather than cherry-pick a few isolated examples that could never each appeal to the totality of our C-Suite audience, we set out to use the unique characteristics of this media environment to offer an abundance of proof. We created 35 minutes of content to be dissected into individual 30” units. Each spot would run once during the live programming.

This was a 35 minute documentary of a new world at work, interrupted by golf.

The TV was the entrée into a much broader set of digital content. We expanded on our stories, the transformation at their heart and the IBM capabilities involved. This digital presence was supported by online and print advertising, alongside social and media outreach. We offered the New York Times an exclusive on the radical new genre of advertising we were introducing.

IBM obliterated its fellow sponsors in social media buzz, with 3X the social mentions of the other 2 broadcast sponsors combined.

Rather than take the standard advertising approach to the Masters of producing 4 to 5 spots, all of which fans would be bored of by Sunday afternoon, we created 35 minutes of content to be dissected into individual 30” units. Each spot would run once during the live programming. Each would be a unique “Dispatch from a Smarter Planet”. This brought with it numerous logistical and approval challenges.

The TV was the entrée into a much broader set of content delivered digitally. We expanded on each of the stories, providing greater information on the transformation at their heart and the IBM capabilities involved. This digital presence was supported by online advertising and social outreach as well as print insertions running in the Wall Street Journal on the Thursday of the tournament. We also offered the New York Times an exclusive on the radical new genre of advertising we were introducing, published on the Wednesday.

This campaign aired 9-13 April 2014: too recently for sales results. But IBM obliterated its fellow sponsors in social buzz, with 3x the mentions of the other 2 broadcast sponsors combined. 92% of mentions were positive, e.g. “Thank you @IBM for not making us watch the same commercial over and over”. Adweek made us 'Ad of the Day', describing the campaign as "stunning" and an "incredible series". The program drove 150,000 visitors to our content ecosystem for the fuller campaign experience. Early-stage tracking suggests 90% of executives recalling the campaign liked it, with 77% reporting increased interest in doing business with IBM.