Unisys Ads Continue Services Push

Mainframe and IT giant Unisys is debuting a new campaign that continues the company’s pitch for its services, rather than its technology.

Ads from the new “Imagine It. Done.” campaign, designed by Grey Worldwide’s technology-focused darkGrey unit, position the Blue Bell, Pa.-based company as a leader in a variety of IT areas.

Spending was not disclosed. Television and print executions, which launched this week in conjunction with the U.S. Open — that perennial favorite for IT firms looking to reach corporate executives — highlight the company’s work in systems integration, outsourcing, infrastructure, server technology and consulting.

Print ads will focus on case studies for clients including Subaru of America, the U.S. Department of Defense, Vodafone , the Government of Malaysia and the Government of Brazil. TV spots will focus on Unisys work for The Wall Street Journal as well as Barclays , HSBC, and Lloyds TSB .

Copy from the campaign’s lead print execution, which ran in the Journal, reads:

“If you’re running an organization, or even a division within an organization, we think it’s a safe assumption that you know what you’re doing. Which is why we pride ourselves as being more than big thinkers. We’re sure you have plenty of people telling you what to do. But how many stick around to help you actually do it? That’s where Unisys comes in.”

“…So, that vision you have of what your company could be, what it could achieve, how efficiently it could run … Imagine it. Done.”

The new campaign and tagline mark a departure from the company’s earlier “monitor head” campaign, which kick-started the company’s transition from technology to services. That effort, originated in 1998 at Bozell Worldwide, featured after-hours Unisys employees with computer monitors for heads — showing images that demonstrated they thought obsessively about solutions to clients’ problems, even during their leisure time.

Grey, which won the account in 2000, modified the original “We eat, drink, and sleep this stuff” tagline to “We have a head for e-business” in 2001, as the firm competed in the market for IT contracts with a host of new players and established companies like IBM , which were also in the midst of a services-oriented rebranding.

Now, however, the majority of Unisys’ revenue comes from services, prompting a new slate of messaging.

“Our previous ‘monitor head’ campaign was created to rally our employees and our customers around the transition Unisys was undertaking from a technology company to a new vision of ‘services-driven, technology-enabled,'” said Unisys Chairman and Chief Executive Lawrence Weinbach. “Now that approximately 75 percent of our business is in services, our new campaign is focused on Unisys service capabilities by presenting real client engagements that have enabled companies to fulfill their vision. The key today is execution, and our tag line ‘Imagine it. Done.’ speaks to our execution capabilities.”

In addition to using darkGrey to design the ads, Unisys said it hired branding consultancy Siegelgale to research a positioning strategy.

“This is a ‘show-me’ campaign,” said Richard Badler, senior vice president of corporate communications for Unisys. ” ‘Imagine it. Done.’ precisely reflects the results of our research and captures our corporate direction. That’s our customer problem focus, our concentration on the enterprise, our zeal. That’s us.”