To drive awareness around the newest edition of IBM mainframe technology - IBM Z - we created a film called the "The Mainframe Kid." At 18, Connor Krukosky bought, disassembled and rebuilt a 1,500-pound IBM mainframe in his basement. At age 19, he was hired as an IBMer. To create this film, we interviewed Connor in his basement to bring to life his obsession with computers and expansive knowledge regarding how these systems operate.

We implemented comprehensive channel and media strategies to tell Connor's story and to continue the momentum of IBM Z - the next generation of the world’s most powerful transaction system, capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions per day. In order to share this product launch socially, we decided to share a story about an IBMer who is passionate and personally invested in the technology. We share our brand stories through the IBMer with hopes to demonstrate the global nature and scale of our creativity and impact on the world.

We amplified the "Mainframe Kid" story across YouTube, Facebook, Facebook Live, Twitter, Instagram, and Instagram Stories organically. This included:

-Uploading the full documentary to Facebook and Youtube

-Uploading 60-second trailer to Twitter and Instagram

-Producing a Facebook Live with Connor

-Leveraging full-length video as part of the new native upload feature

-Uploading trailer directly to Instagram and driving to film on Facebook

-Creating an Instagram story to drive to video on Facebook

-Hosting an AMA with Connor on Reddit

Our paid strategy included:

-Targeting developers, programmers, mainframe enthusiasts with paid, in addition to traditional targets

-Putting paid support behind full video on Facebook and YouTube

-Leveraging full length video as part of video beta on LinkedIn

-Put paid support behind best performing Twitter asset

The entire timeline from initial launch to conclusion of paid support was from November 7th, 2017-November 20th, 2017