International Business Machines Corporation: Subtitles campaign (1995)

Rebecca Stanfel

Once the largest and mightiest of technology companies, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) fell on hard times by the early 1990s.

International Business Machines Corporation: Subtitles campaign

Rebecca Stanfel

Overview

Once the largest and mightiest of technology companies, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) fell on hard times by the early 1990s. Although it invented the personal computer, competitors reproduced IBM's breakthrough technology and sold it for less. IBM's mainframe business was challenged by cheaper rivals, and its operating system was surpassed by Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows. Compounding these problems was IBM's fragmented marketing efforts, with 40 different advertising agencies worldwide involved in promoting various products and services. The result was conflicting messages and general ineffectiveness. In 1994 IBM ended this reign of...

WARC subscribers can sign in to keep reading

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands