CDW Corp.
Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago Campaign: “North Pole” Launch date: December 2011 Creative credits: Chief creative officer: Joe Sciarrotta; creative director: Chris Wall; copywriters: Geoff Berg, Mark Bruker, Katie Rivard; art directors: Sam Spratlin, Steve Hahn; management supervisor: Charles Brandl; producer: Mike Diedrich; executive group director: Cathy Francque Why we liked it: With banners and video, CDW uses an impossibly large, complex organization with 7 billion customers—Santa's North Pole—to explain how CDW can help with IT. Videos depict IT elves who have to deal with all the accompanying tech challenges because the average worker elf, not to mention Santa, doesn't “get” technology (one particularly funny bit shows the big man in red explaining this in the third person: “Santa doesn't get technology—Santa gives technology”). The target audience will appreciate the IT elves' thankless job and identify with their humorous struggles. It's a good example of how a few laughs and a little whimsy can get and hold the audience's attention.
