West Coast Shops Make First Cut in IBM PC Review By Cathy Taylo

NEW YORK - By late last week three West Coast agencies had survived the first cut for the $30-35-million IBM Personal Computer Co. review.

According to IBM PC media relations director Paul Bergevin, 13 agencies were invited to pitch the account. Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein and Hal Riney & Partners in S.F. and Chiat/Day in Venice, Calif., are expected to join N.Y. shops Kirshenbaum & Bond, Lowe & Partners, Deutsch/Dworin, Young & Rubicam, Messner Vetere Berger Carey Schmetterer, Merkley Newman Harty and incumbent Lintas; Fallon McElligott and Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis; and Leo Burnett/Chicago in the competition.
The shops are expected to have a preliminary meeting with the prospective client soon.
Riney and MVBMS, like Fallon, both were finalists in 1991’s Compaq Computer review. IBM PC Co. consultant Arthur Einstein served as a consultant on that high-tech review as well.
Meanwhile, mega-shops with IBM connections such as J. Walter Thompson and Grey Advertising did not receive invites to pitch. Nor has Woolward & Partners, a small, S.F. high-tech shop well known in its niche.
While the review forges ahead, IBM may also be progressing on a strategy that will ultimately structure the creative approach, no matter which agency is chosen. In fact, hints about where the company will take its advertising are already beginning to emerge.
A strategic line, ‘Human by Design,’ suggested by Young & Rubicam unit Landor Associates as part of a larger branding study, has made it into at least one ad for the PS/2 E, an easy-to-use pc that runs on less energy than a conventional computer.
According to one source, the two-page ad from incumbent Lintas: New York, which broke three weeks ago, spells out the strategic brief that’s been handed to the shop. ‘That’s the assignment that Lintas has been struggling with,’ the source said.
The ad welcomes users to ‘natural computing,’ a buzz phrase that was also used by unit president/ceo Robert Corrigan in a speech given at last month’s PC Expo.
Copyright Adweek L.P. (1993)