The technology company that once asked the world to think has apparently done some thinking of its own about its advertising arrangements.

IBM has selected two agencies owned by Stagwell, the holding company assembled by Mark Penn, to handle its global creative account. Anomaly and Code and Theory will begin work for the company in August, following what the parties described as a competitive review.

The appointment represents a significant win for Stagwell, which has been positioning itself as a digitally oriented alternative to the larger legacy holding companies. For IBM, which has been on something of an agency odyssey in recent years, the decision continues a pattern of seeking partners that can speak credibly about technology to audiences that actually understand it (or at least believe they do).

Mr. Penn, who serves as chairman and chief executive of Stagwell, has been assembling his network through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth since the company's formation in 2015 and its subsequent merger with MDC Partners in 2021. Anomaly, the creative shop founded in 2004, joined the Stagwell portfolio through that merger; Code and Theory, a digital-first agency, has been part of the network since 2021.

IBM has worked with a succession of agency partners over the decades, including lengthy relationships with Ogilvy, which once counted the account among its crown jewels. The company's advertising has, at various points, attempted to explain mainframe computing to a mass audience, promoted the victories of Watson over human "Jeopardy!" contestants, and more recently emphasized the company's work in artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The competitive review that led to the Stagwell appointment drew interest from agencies across the holding company landscape, according to people familiar with the process.

The new work is expected to begin appearing later this year, by which point IBM will have yet another opportunity to remind the world what, exactly, it does these days.

Original story published in campaignlive.com: "Anomaly and Code and Theory win IBM's global creative account | Campaign US"