TMCnet News

CDW and Charles Barkley Make "Smart Growth" a March Madness Slam Dunk
[March 17, 2014]

CDW and Charles Barkley Make "Smart Growth" a March Madness Slam Dunk


VERNON HILLS, Ill. --(Business Wire)--

CDW (NASDAQ:CDW (News - Alert)), a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare, launched the next iteration of its "People Who Get IT" integrated brand campaign on March 15. The new campaign, once again featuring NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and fictional company Gordon & Taylor, will tip off the 2014 NCAA basketball tournament with spots appearing on national television and radio, in print and with expanded online digital engagement throughout March Madness and into the summer of 2014.

Charles Barkley is back in "Smart Growth," the latest iteration of CDW's "People Who Get IT" integra ...

Charles Barkley is back in "Smart Growth," the latest iteration of CDW's "People Who Get IT" integrated brand campaign launching during March Madness. (Photo: Business Wire)

Since Barkley's arrival at Gordon & Taylor, the company has won at basketball, won new business by losing at golf, won on the road with its mobile office and won despite having a football stadium without a team. But sometimes, growth isn't easy, and in the newest campaign, "Smart Growth," Gordon & Taylor is feeling the pressures that many fast-growing organizations experience - from hiring challenges to space constraints and bottom-line worries.

Tat's where CDW comes in. Just as a basketball team's sixth man comes off the bench to help win games, CDW's professional expertise demonstrates that IT is the "seventh man" that can provide organizations with a competitive advantage. A core element of the content-rich campaign is showcasing how technology is changing the game - not only in basketball, but also in business.



"The creative concept for the 'Smart Growth' campaign is how CDW's technology solutions support and amplify business operations to help our customers grow and succeed," said Neal Campbell, senior vice president and chief marketing officer at CDW. "We chose March Madness as the backdrop for this campaign because technology coupled with professional expertise is truly the 'seventh man' for enabling smart growth."

Barkley has anchored the serial campaign in several iterations since 2012, engaging CDW's audiences in a memorable way using humor to effectively deliver simple, clear messages that resonate with IT professionals and business leaders alike.


The "Smart Growth" campaign enables CDW to highlight its expertise in cloud computing, mobility, data center optimization, networking and printing solutions. Just as Gordon & Taylor has evolved, CDW has evolved to become a leading provider of IT solutions with the national breadth and deep technological know-how required in today's rapidly changing marketplace. Partner solutions from Cisco, Crucial, HP, Intel, Lenovo (News - Alert), NetApp, Seagate and VMware are featured, along with the CDW capabilities that power them.

Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, worked with CDW to develop the campaign, which is CDW's most deeply integrated to date. It features broadcast, print and online advertising; the What is the Seventh Man microsite; social media and internal engagement programs; sales enablement; CDW.com promotions; and public relations support. The ads, directed by award-winning and Hall of Fame television commercial director Joe Pytka, will run during the NCAA March Madness broadcasts on CBS, TBS, TNT, Tru TV, ESPN (News - Alert) Radio and Westwood One.

New elements of the campaign include two Reddit Q&As sponsored by BizTech magazine in conjunction with CDW and STATS (News - Alert) - the leading sports technology, data and content company - March 18 and live from Dallas during the Final Four, focused on how big data analytics can help fans pick winning brackets.

To access exclusive "Smart Growth" campaign materials, visit CDWCorp on Twitter, CDW Corporation on Facebook, CDW on LinkedIn and CDW on Spiceworks.

About CDW

CDW is a leading provider of technology solutions to business, government, education and healthcare. A Fortune 500 company, CDW was founded in 1984 and employs more than 6,900 coworkers. For the year ended December 31, 2013, the company generated net sales of more than $10.7 billion. For more information, visit www.CDW.com.

CDWPR-CO


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]