The Brief

Lotus Notes had been suffering from increased competition as well as a tired product personality. IBM wanted to resurrect the Lotus brand targeting the non-IT C-level audience, show off some of Lotus’s features that few were aware and build leads from both new and existing customers.

Creative Execution

Nearly every step of the dramatic story, Lotus Notes played a role in how the characters made decisions, took actions and communicated in a variety of ways. It was a smart way of delivering the product's capabilities in an immensely entertaining, engaging way. And as the Lotus Notes brand had been suffering from lack of interest, it helped enliven the brand greatly.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Instead of producing what could be a very dull explanation of features, IBM produced a branded film which told the story of two young and hungry salesmen climbing the corporate ladder, and let the Lotus information flow naturally throughout the story.

Results

With a budget of less than US$70k, the results were fantastic. Not only did the film’s Weibo reach total 11,948,744, but the film was attributed to building new leads by 30% and existing leads by over 260%!