Client
IBM
Services
Visual Storytelling
Illustration
Copywriting
Digital Campaign
The challenge
IBM was seeking ideas for disruptive creative assets to promote and diffuse their new CIO program founded on an internal concept idea called What Can “I” Disrupt. They needed to move fast—Somnio was called upon to create original unconventional creative assets under a tight timeline.
The
approach
Somnio heard the client’s request for big, bold ideas and went all-in on powerful creative built on a collaborative concepting and brainstorming experience. Client work sessions instead of client meetings, allowed for:
• Faster alignment between client and creative team
• Real-time feedback
• Collaborative approach
• Conversations instead of pushback
• A shared sense of belonging for the project
• Somnio embraced the disruptive nature of IBM’s campaign and proposed an unconventional creative output format: graphic novels
• This new format provided the agency a larger creative real estate that allowed for richer storytelling while at the same time providing data points that supported IBM’s campaign initiative: to redefine the CIO role
• Somnio developed a unique narrative and storytelling structure for each graphic novel as an additional component of differentiation among them
• Each graphic novel introduced a different CIO with his/her unique superpower based on the three different “I’s” the IBM campaign had identified: Inspiration, Ingenuity and Initiative
• Equipped with writers, illustrators, art directors, account managers and the IBM team, Somnio embarked on the laborious, yet gratifying and exciting task of creating characters, unique scripts and tailored look and feel for each of the three graphic novels produced
The
results
Somnio changed the way IBM talks to executives, namely CIOs, with three unique, hand-drawn, visually arresting graphic novels. This creative output showcased how the new IBM CIO was able to identify a specific enterprise challenge, find solutions to it and disrupt the market to gain competitive advantage; all while delivering accurate and strategically sound information that supported IBM’s initiative.