You are quickly browsing through the New York Times pages probably on the way to work or on a lunch break. You turn the page and voila! you see a huge scribble or a cryptic image followed by rather dull headline and a massive block of corporate copy.

These IBM ads are part of the ”Conversations for a smarter planet” campaign. Would you feel interested enough to stop in your tracks and dip into the lengthy message?  

The idea of a “Conversations for a smarter planet” green campaign is brilliant and well intentioned, the execution… in my opinion, not so much. Ad images are meant to be relevant and engaging, grab your attention and draw you into reading the copy, and hopefully you will take some action such as visiting a website. But these images, although eye-catching, in my opinion, are neither relevant nor engaging. Would you invest your time in figuring out the meaning of a scribble or an abstract icon?

IBM if you want to engage and “educate” your audience, make it easier for them to understand your message. Make sure the reader actually wants to read your message.

However well intentioned, these corporate-sponsored environmental claims are unlikely to be taken too seriously these days.

Joe Makower from The Energy Collective wrote an insightful story about this IBM ad campaign that explains its goals and strategy and includes interviews with Rich Lechner, IBM’s VP of Energy and Environment and John Kennedy, VP of Integrated Marketing Communications.