Two years ago, IBM launched the Smarter Planet campaign. It advocates that by making the world’s systems smarter, many of its old problems can be faced in completely new ways. But what actually happens when the planet gets smarter? We need a campaign that now demonstrates the evidence of these smart things happening around the world, and show how they’re improving business and people’s lives.

We sought out renowned illustrator Noma Bar, who is known for his technique of "negative space" where hidden messages often exist in a single illustration and there’s a lot more going on in the illustration than apparent at first glance. Noma’s witty and smart illustrations were the perfect vehicle to help us tell highly complex stories with stunning simplicity and show the collaboration between the customer and IBM, along with the outcomes for the customer.

Since the purpose of this campaign is to generate awareness and interest in IBM’s Smarter Planet solutions, the best way to measure results is in the latest IBM Earnings Report. IBM beat Wall Street’s earning outlook, with stock at an all time high. All major business units delivered year over year growth – and specifically, the Smarter Planet revenue is up 20% year over year. In addition to the hard numbers, the campaign spread like wildfire in the blogoshpere with digital influencers from multiple countries praising the simplicity and impact of the campaign messages.