Does IBM get it?

Further proof that most gigantic IT brands have no soul. With the exception of the so-called leaked Office Values, and maybe the John Wodden spot, I’ve hated everything they’ve done. But I caught this spot over the weekend and for once thought theu lost their smugness and picked up a sense of humor. Two avatars mimic the premise of Second Life in a series called Do. IBM poking fun at itself, could it be? Nope. First problem is, the url from the spot takes you to a site on innovation, and I swear without fail, trying to figure out the point of the content there is one of the most frustrating and complicated thing you will try, (next to calling Dell’s tech support and figuring out why people like Dane Cook).

The functionality works, but there’s too much of it. Menus, sub-menus, sub-sub-menus. Once in, you then discover what has to be 50 separate video clips taken from larger interviews on innovation. It’s then you realize the TV spots had nothing to do with what this site is about. The clips are more of the same self-important bloated IT-speak on innovation that the spots make fun of.

(There’s also another one in the series where a room of people are ‘ideating’ on the ground. Group think at it’s finest.) They’re funny themes from the current business climate to parody, but not if you fail to connect the dots. I know TV doesn’t always need to duplicate the microsite, the print, blah, blah–been there. But it should at least connect in some way, no? At the very least, make it available on the site. All that money spent, and it had to be a sheetload, some intern couldn’t upload a clip to YouTube or iFilm? (Thanks to DaBitch for being the only one to have it.)

Tags: IBM Do