Stagwell lands IBM creative as 32-year Ogilvy era ends

IBM is moving quickly to reshape its global marketing machine, appointing Stagwell as lead creative partner just one day after confirming Omnicom as its global media agency of record.

Under the creative appointment, Stagwell agencies Anomaly Code and Theory will work together as a single creative team across IBM’s brand and campaign activity.

The agencies will help evolve IBM’s “Let’s Create Smarter Business” campaign across channels and geographies, with first work expected in August 2026.

The appointment ends IBM’s 32-year creative relationship with Ogilvy, one of the longest-running client-agency partnerships in global advertising. It gives IBM a new creative setup alongside its expanded global media relationship with Omnicom Media, which was confirmed a day earlier and covers planning and buying across the Americas, EMEA, Japan and APAC.

Jonathan Adashek, senior vice president of marketing and communications at IBM, said Code and Theory and Anomaly brought both creative and strategic strength to the business.

“At IBM, we believe that innovation happens at the intersection of human ingenuity and technological capability,” Adashek said in a statement.

“Code and Theory and Anomaly bring the creative and strategic strength we need, along with modern tools and an operating approach that will help us move faster, work smarter and deliver more connected experiences.”

Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of Stagwell, said the partnership would bring creative force and operational precision to IBM.

“What this moment demands is creative force and operational precision simultaneously, at the speed the market now requires,” Penn said.

“Code and Theory and Anomaly bring the full range of what that takes, and operating as one team, under one accountability structure, they will deliver it. The convergence of the C-Suite is where this partnership lives, and that’s where IBM will win.”

The appointment adds a major enterprise technology client to Stagwell’s global roster and gives the network a high-profile creative brief at a time when B2B technology brands are under pressure to make complex AI and infrastructure stories more accessible.