STEM for Girls is an initiative launched in India by IBM in 2019 to improve education and career pathways for girls in government high schools. Our vision is to prepare over 200,000 high school girls here in India, across multiple states, through a 3-year program to pursue and understand their potential in STEM careers.

IBM has joined forces with partners Quest Alliance and American Indian Foundation Trust to take this program to government schools in select cities. In the last two years, IBM has reached over 140,000 students through 1,200 schools.

Charles and Ray Eames’ design philosophy was all about embracing playfulness. Whether they were designing furniture, toys, or iconic exhibits such as 1961’s Mathematica – a partnership with IBM.

Inspired by the Eameses early work with IBM, the experiential agency GPJ partnered with production company 1stAveMachine to create a 10-foot tall, interactive, fully-analog machine. The installation uses playful metaphors to show how IBM’s products and solutions can help businesses overcome their struggles with digital transformation. The behavior of the plastic balls as they travel through the tracks and mechanisms of the machine helps to visualize the key steps to a more modern organization. In essence, proving the power of design to make the complex, simple.

Currently touring the US and appearing at large industry events such as CES, this self-perpetuating machine is also accompanied by voice-over narration that syncs with each of the 8 “teachable moments,” reinforcing IBM’s point of view.

Credits
Advertising Agency: GPJ
VP Executive Creative Director: Marcos Ribeiro
Senior Account Director Project Lead: Amy Knowles
Creative Director: Pete Williams
Creative Director: Dan Tucker
Senior Strategist Experience Design: Jessica Turek
Senior Producer: David Trainor
VP Executive Creative Director: Chris Goveia
Senior Art Director: Amir Sjenarevic
Senior Event Manager: Devin Colon
Senior Manager, Event Production: Joshua Paker
Production Company: 1stAveMachine
Director: Bob Partington
Executive Producer: Peter Repplier
Executive Producer: Garrett Fennelly
Producer: B Gosse
Fabricator/Engineer/Owner: John Merritt / Merritt Productions
VP Global Conferences and Events: Colleen Bisconti / IBM
Program Director: Dee Hall
Creative Director & Design Principal: Matthew Calkins
Director Positioning and Event Marketing: Madelyn Varella
Portfolio Marketing: Pierre Coyne

Tags:
Film, United States, Electronics, Technology, IBM, GPJ, Smarter Business Engine, Technology, Innovation, Latest Innovation

In some of the most innovative displays of this advertising style, creatives have materialized their vision by attaching their ads onto everyday objects. For instance, IBM’s Smart Ideas for Smart Cities campaign turned a public bench into a poster. In yet another example of ambient advertising, an Indian ad agency turned escalator-steps into pages of a hairstyle catalog for a hair salon’s marketing campaign. Another offbeat advertisement of the same category advocated the dangers of air pollution on the walls of an industrial building with a smokestack.

Such advertisements work by catching their target audience off-guard, thereby grasping a bigger portion of their attention compared to traditional marketing campaigns.

Here are some concrete examples of the decade’s best ambient advertising:-

Netflix gave a body to Italy’s most iconic middle finger

La Casa de Papel tells the stories of modern-era Robin Hoods specialized in taking over symbols of financial power. To celebrate the launch of the third part of the show, Netflix did just the same.

Two days before the official launch, Milan woke up to discover that the statue of a 15mt high, red-hooded thief had taken over Piazza Affari: the seat of Italian financial power. It did so by turning the giant middle finger created by visionary artist Maurizio Cattelan, placed right in front of the Italian stock exchange, into its hand.

The night before the launch, the takeover of Piazza Affari was completed with a public premiere screening of the first two episodes of the third part, surprising more than 5000 enthusiastic fans gathered in front of the statue.

During the whole official launch period, from the 18th and to the 22nd of July, more than 57.3K posts have been published, generating over 1.6 million interactions.

NRDC.org: Air Pollution Kills 60,000 People a Year

IBM – Smart Ideas for Smarter Cities

The Inaccessible Transit Shelter

We made a transit shelter completely inaccessible by closing it off with glass. The headline ‘Feeling Left out?’ was quickly paid off with the copy “Over 400,000 Torontonians living with disabilities do, too.’

Juice Salon – Escalator

Nike | Giannis Antetokounmpo: Mt. Olympus

McHive – The World’s Smallest McDonald’s

Some of McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden have beehives on their rooftops. The initiative started locally but is now growing. More franchises around the country are joining the cause and have also started replacing the grass around their restaurants with flowers and plants that are important for the wellbeing of wild bees. To celebrate the initiative, which is part of McDonald’s Swedens sustainability work, we created what could be the world’s smallest McDonald’s – a fully functioning beehive.

Charicycles – Stories In The Sand

At Charicycles, they believe that everyone should have access to a healthier life through cycling. And more importantly, access to do so in a safe way. Their new initiative, Stories in the Sand is a step in that direction.

Tags:
Netflix, La Casa de Papel, Publicis, Italy, ambient advertising, Canada, Public Interest, NGO, Centre for Independent Living, The City of Toronto, Netherlands, Sports, Nike, Wieden + Kennedy, Sweden, Food, McDonald’s, DDB, Charicycles, Wunderman, Stories In The Sand, IBM, Ogilvy, France