Stephen King’s IBM Commercial With Watson [VIDEO]

Stephen King stars in a new commercial, talking storytelling with IBM's supercomputer named 'Watson,' and this former IBMer's kid thinks it's awesome!

My Dad worked for IBM for over 30 years and I'm betting he'll get a big kick out of the commercial. When Dad worked for IBM, back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, it was a very conservative company that really didn't advertise. They didn't need to, as there wasn't as much competition back then. It was a highly conservative company that insisted its employees wear dark, conventional suits, with white shirts. (no colors!)

The company branched out a bit in 1984 by sponsoring the TV adaptation of 'A Christmas Carol' starring George C. Scott. I remember my Dad telling me about it because it was a big deal. IBM had never done anything like that. As a matter of fact, the company didn't even put signs outside their offices. Very, very low-key.

But times have changed, and IBM has lots of competition, and so the marketing strategies have had to adapt. 'Watson' is one of their new media stars, designed to sift through informational databases with superhuman speed. It's taken on a world-famous chess player, and beaten contestants on 'Jeopardy.'

But Watson may have met its match in Maine's most famous author when it comes to the subject of storytelling. And who knows? Maybe the supercomputer will turn up in King's next book!