Baffling Ads

I’ve been hoping Slate’s Ad Report Card feature would take on the IBM Linux ad with the creepy kid, and sure enough, they did.

I spoke with some IBM marketing people about the ad last week at LinuxWorld Expo and they said “the kid is supposed to be a child prodigy, like Linux.” I think the ad is a little better than the first series of cryptic ads– peace, love, penguin– in that it gives you some sort of idea what they’re talking about. People at first didn’t even know the ads were for Linux! Of course those ads were aimed at building street cred with techies, so I guess that makes sense. These ads are aimed at building credibility and image, too– there’s no call to action, like with other ads (“Ask your doctor about the Meat Lover’s Pizza, call 1-900-MEATY now!”).

But really, the ones where Linux was a basketball player against the Bad Guys team (Virus, etc.) were clearer and gave you more of a feeling about what the heck they were talking about. They obviously have some sort of strategy there, and I’m certainly glad to see Linux being promoted so well, and given such a cool face, even if, as the review notes, there’s not a lot of substance behind the ad, and it’s mostly aimed at a very small group of people, leaving the rest of us to feel that we’re kinda out of the loop. Maybe that’s it– we all need to figure out what this is, so we can be cool like that creepy-ass kid who talks to celebrities.