Agency: Young & Rubicam, San Francisco

Name of campaign: “Simplicity Is Power”

Launch date: August 2009

Creative credits: Group creative director/senior VP: Kevin McCarthy; associate creative director: Henry Joe Peterson; senior art director: Larry Yannes

Why we liked it: Much technology advertising uses images of computers and other devices as symbols of power. In this integrated campaign, Citrix turned that idea on its head. Working off the notion that our technology and IT infrastructure has begun to control us, this campaign uses imagery that shows a human hand in complete control of technology. In print ads, banners and out-of-home executions, Citrix shows, for example, a mound of laptops cupped in a human hand. The image communicates that the humans are back in charge. Other executions use similar images: a hand crushing servers, computers dangling like puppets by strings from a human hand. This campaign gets across the message that Citrix virtualization solutions can put the power back into the hands of the IT department. The ads have lots of white space, which we always like, and the tagline is simple and powerful: “Simplicity is power.”