CDW, the Fortune 500 technology solutions company, recently launched the latest version of their successful “People Who Get IT” campaign, debuting the new spot, featuring NBA hall of fame player Charles Barkley, last night during ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcast. The humorous campaign, which features Barkley once again working at the fictional company Gordon & Taylor, will be appearing on national television and radio throughout the US and will be backed up by an extensive online engagement. Barkley has been the face of the serial “People Who Get IT” campaign for CDW since 2012, using his trademark deadpan delivery to deliver simple, clear messages about technology solutions in a subtly humours fashion.
The humorous campaign will be appearing on national television and radio throughout the US and will be backed up by an extensive online engagement
In the new campaign, as was the case before, Barkley plays the role of a clueless employee struggling to keep up with the latest innovations, who relies on smart, technological solutions to solve his businesses biggest problems. In the new campaign, dubbed “Smart Growth 2.0,” CDW are once again on hand to help Gordon & Taylor keep on top of the rapidly advancing technology and “Meet the business demands of today and tomorrow with cloud computing, mobility, power, networking solutions and more.” Partner solutions from APC, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft and NetApp are also featured in the campaign (the ad below features one such ad explaining the benefits of “Microsoft's Surface Pro 3” over a desktop computer on a bike) alongside the CDW capabilities that power them.
CDW & Microsoft – People Who Get It
The campaign has been developed by Ogilvy & Mather Chicago and features both broadcast and online advertising, social media engagement, a dedicated content destination, customer events, and plenty more besides. The ads, which were directed by Joe Pytka, will be running during the weekly Monday Night Football broadcasts and during other sporting events on ESPN, ABC and Westwood One.
The NFL team the Arizona Cardinals recently hired CDW to implement game-changing technology at their University of Phoenix Stadium
Neal Campbell, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at CDW, said that “Technology is changing the game in today's fast-paced business environment, and that the campaign reveals how much pride they take in helping their customers “Create and implement technology solutions and services that enable smart business growth.” As an example of how the company are using this technology to fundamentally change how a business functions, the NFL team the Arizona Cardinals recently hired CDW to implement game-changing technology at their University of Phoenix Stadium. At the stadium on the outskirts of Phoenix, fans can now enjoy complete wireless access across the entire 1.6 million-square-foot stadium, with access soon scheduled to be available in the outdoor parking lots also. Mark Feller, vice president of technology for the team, said that thanks to their partnership with CDW they now have “The most pervasive wireless experience in the NFL.”
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He'd like to think he's up to date with all the latest technological innovations, but hasn't updated his phone in about half a decade.
