The Gift of Comedy: Gil and Ned
Great duos have made huge contributions to comedy. There's Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Rowan and Martin, Stiller and Meara and of course, Gil and Ned. Gil and Ned?
Gil and Ned are the pair of office workers featured in a long-running series of IBM ads in Big Blue's "Take Back Control" advertising campaign. Gil is the manager who doesn’t understand a thing about technology or business, but keeps trying to come up with ways, most of them absurd, of using technology to accomplish his company's business mission. Ned, however, gets it, and usually comes up with an elegant solution using IBM technologies.
In glancing at these ads, I was struck most by the paunchy Gil figure, who seemed much more interesting than the smart, slender and somewhat faceless Ned figure. So, being a reporter, I had to find out more about Gil. It turns out that Gil is a character actor named Gil Christner, who has a lengthy resume and a particularly successful career making commercials. Here's his Web site. Ned, meanwhile, is played by Kevin Christy, a young actor who's landed a number of bit parts.
An IBM spokesman sent me some information about the campaign, which was created by Ogilvy and Mather, a company that has had a longstanding relationship with IBM. "Ned and Gil work for a global manufacturer and service provider with a wide range of customers located throughout the world…The core of this thinking is that companies can't innovate, can't excel and can’t compete without an organized, logical and efficient infrastructure in place…And the company that can help them get it all under control is IBM."
You can experience the ad campaign in greater depth here.
Writing about ad campaigns is not something we normally do here in the serious world of technology journalism. But it's the holiday season. Consider this column a little gift. If you're ever on Jeopardy and one of the categories is "Names of Character Actors in Ad Campaigns," you’ll be prepared. It could mean the difference between winning and losing, between your being the next Ken Jennings, or not. No need to send a thank you note.
Best wishes for joyous holidays and a great 2007!
