Techies In Advertising: Hits & Misses 2
Advertising didn't always treat IT professionals with much respect, but that's changing. Hapless techies are out; superhero product placements are in.
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IT professionals have been portrayed in advertising campaigns for a few decades now. Yet ad agencies keep getting it wrong, so wrong. Little known fact: Not all programmers are socially awkward, poorly dressed dweebs working under fluorescent lights.
Advertising's habit of making cartoons out of the technologically savvy says a great deal about who creates advertising in the first place. For instance, until recently it was a badge of honor among some advertising creatives that they didn't need to understand technology, even if the client was a high-tech company. It was as though they feared technical know-how might make their creative juices dry up.
That's a dated notion, given the tens of billions of tech marketing dollars spent each year. Tech marketing budgets rebounded in 2014 after years of slow growth, and will rise on average 3.5% this year, according to the 12th Annual Tech Marketing Benchmark Study by IDC's CMO Advisory Service.
A favorite trope in many business-to-consumer ads is an unfashionable, out-of-touch, oddly inhuman male "techie" dealing with a customer. The techie is always the butt of a joke; we're meant to identify with the exasperated consumer. Even when the tech wins, it's a joke. See GoDaddy's 2013 "Perfect Match," a Super Bowl ad in which the nerd (played by actor Jesse Heiman) kisses Victoria Secret model Bar Refaeli.
Business-to-business ads, such as those from computer companies for enterprise buyers, generally do better on this score, as you'd expect. But not always. Remember, the people creating and sometimes approving these marketing campaigns might not be technologists themselves.
Happily, this nonsense is starting to wane. Modern marketers and ad agencies increasingly tout their own use of technology -- marketing automation and, more recently, advanced analytics -- on behalf of their clients. Moreover, there's more diversity in the portrayal of IT people. The go-to programmer character seen in ads (white, male, wearing an ill-fitting business shirt and tie) is going the way of the cigarette-smoking family doctor TV pitchman.
(Separately, there's a tired sameness in the way tech gadgets are marketed to consumer audiences, a problem that CollegeHumor rightly skewers in this 2013 parody.)
Click through our slideshow for some great, positive examples of computer-savvy people -- and some not so positive.
Do you have your own favorites? Best ad? Worst ad? Let us know in the comments below.
This UNIVAC TV commercial, which aired on CBS in February 1956, is one of the first on-camera appearances of IT professionals. Among the first computers sold commercially, the UNIVAC was manufactured by Remington Rand and later the Univac division of Sperry Rand. Notice the three no-nonsense, heads-down programmers, working with paper printouts. Like every other male office worker in the 1950s, thin ties and jackets were the mandatory uniform. Also notice the cool animation in this early ad:
The "Get a Mac" campaign, which ran from 2006 to 2009, helped Apple pull a few market-share points away from still-dominant Microsoft. But in a broader sense, these smart, playful spots helped to make computer people (Apple users, at least) look hip. A collection of all 66 commercials can be found on the Adweek site.
This AT&T Mobility campaign, which aired in March 2014, is sweet enough, but it regrettably repeats old, stereotypical ideas about technical people. "Better Network" features two AT&T engineers who are great when talking about the company's wireless gear but not so hot when it comes to conversing with regular human beings. Sound familiar? We've been there, done that.
Can you explain IT consulting in an entirely original way, with gorgeous, memorable visuals? Electronic Data Systems Corp. did with a Super Bowl 2000 spot that brilliantly and comically compared IT consulting to herding cats, with consultants as horse-riding "catpokes." Sadly, although lots of viewers enjoyed the ad, few remembered it was for EDS. But EDS gets an "A" for effort. Also in 2000, it released an encore to the "Cat Herders" called "Airplane," in which it fancifully compared its business process outsourcing service to building an airplane in mid-flight.
Did you notice all the Oracle product placements in Iron Man 2? There are several. This video from Oracle, "Iron Man: Man. Machine. Hero," mentions Oracle's software and Sun's hardware, but we've included it mostly because, well -- Iron Man!
For the best, most consistent ads for and about technology buyers, look no further than IBM. With its longtime agency partner, Ogilvy & Mather North America, IBM has produced a slew of iconic, award-winning television commercials. The spots, which all use the now-familiar IBM blue letterbox format, began in 1997.
What's extraordinary about these commercials is how they manage to be both amusing and incisive about real business issues. As an added plus, the joke is never at the expense of the techie but more often aimed at nontechnical business people. Consider "Universal Business Adapter (UBA)," a 2002 TV commercial for IBM's WebSphere Integration Software. In the spot, business people hear a sales pitch about an imaginary product that connects everything to everything. It ends with the boss asking, "Does it work in Europe?" To which the salesman responds, deadpan, "You need an adapter." A tile page follows with the line: "There is No Universal Business Adapter."
For the best, most consistent ads for and about technology buyers, look no further than IBM. With its longtime agency partner, Ogilvy & Mather North America, IBM has produced a slew of iconic, award-winning television commercials. The spots, which all use the now-familiar IBM blue letterbox format, began in 1997.
What's extraordinary about these commercials is how they manage to be both amusing and incisive about real business issues. As an added plus, the joke is never at the expense of the techie but more often aimed at nontechnical business people. Consider "Universal Business Adapter (UBA)," a 2002 TV commercial for IBM's WebSphere Integration Software. In the spot, business people hear a sales pitch about an imaginary product that connects everything to everything. It ends with the boss asking, "Does it work in Europe?" To which the salesman responds, deadpan, "You need an adapter." A tile page follows with the line: "There is No Universal Business Adapter."
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