IBM marketeers rub out chopper after visit from CEO Ginni

Not a good fit. Apparently

IBM has tried to erase the photograph of the Big Blue chopper that CEO, president and chairman Ginny Rometty used to fly to the UK R&D labs recently, because it didn’t fit with the corporate austerity message.

The company recently issued a directive forcing staff to seek supporting evidence before spending more than £75 on travel to customer sites.

Clearly this didn’t apply to Rometty, who visited the site in Hursley by 'copter to see the little people for the day - including one tearful veteran who had spent 50 years with IBM. The firm also rolled out the blue carpet for the exec.

The picture used in a report of the visit on the UK Labs Campus blog has now changed from the Big Blue chopper to one of three people in an office - one of them was smiling, the other two had their back to the photographer so we can’t decipher their moods.

The image was branded, “We’re a new IBM”.

This didn’t go unnoticed by the eagle eyed staffers, with one asking, “Where’d the photo of the helicopter go?”

Another said to us, “the chopper has indeed been chopped from the blog”, while a third wondered if “Ginni thinks the internet can be deleted and if the picture is removed no one will have noticed.

The source added: “Apparently it was sending out the wrong signal in these expense-constrained times. Naturally, landing on the front lawn with a blue carpet laid out did not attract any attention and people barely noticed, nor put it on Slack, nor took their own photos. They [top brass] will never get it.”

IBM told us it had no comment. ®