If you’ve spent any time in an office over the last decade, you know the pain of the “dongle.” The frantic search under the desk and the moment of realization that the one adapter you need is sitting on your kitchen counter at home.
Logitech decided it was time to make dongles optional—and apparently, the internet agreed.
Logitech’s “Bye Bye, Dongle” campaign just swept the 30th annual Webby Awards, taking home both the Webby Award and the People’s Voice Award for B2B Branded Content. It’s a win not just for the brand, but for the evolution of B2B marketing as a whole.
The Secret Sauce: Humor in a Serious Space
Let’s be honest: B2B marketing has historically been… well, a little dry. It’s often heavy on jargon, feature lists, and stock photos of people in suits shaking hands.
Logitech threw that playbook out the window. “Bye Bye, Dongle” leans into the absurdity of aging tech setups. By using humor to tell the story from the perspective of a dongle itself–personified–they didn’t just sell a feature; they introduced empathy and laughter via a main character in a dongle costume.
This approach proved that B2B doesn’t have to be boring. By humanizing an inanimate object, Logitech made its solution memorable.
Speaking Two Languages: Winning Over the IT Crowd and the End User
The brilliant challenge of this campaign was that it had to land with two very different audiences simultaneously:
- The End User: These folks just want to work. They don’t care about “seamless integration protocols”—they care about not having to carry a dongle in their pocket. The campaign spoke to their everyday frustration.
- The IT Department: These are the gatekeepers. They care about security, compatibility, and reducing help-desk tickets.They also care about flexibility: dongles should be there if you want or need them, and not there if you don’t. Logitech showed IT teams that their solution wasn’t just about convenience—it was about better hardware management and fewer support headaches.
It was a delicate balancing act: keeping the end-user entertained while signaling to the IT manager that this was a professional, enterprise-grade solution.
How was the Dongle campaign created?
The campaign started with a clear objective: Re-launch Logitech’s Dongless B2B category of headsets, featuring Zone 305 and Zone Vibe Wireless. The headsets had achieved Native Bluetooth (NBT) certification, a significant milestone in the world of IT decision makers, but difficult to convey with traditional marketing tactics.
Logitech for Business Head of Marketing, Aspen Lee-Moulden, conceived the idea of personifying the dongle, and relegating it to a space with other outdated technology, such as contact organizer (similar to a Rolodex), fax machine, and floppy disk. That space ultimately became the Department of Retired Office Technology–a kind of comedic tech purgatory.
Aspen joined forces with Logitech’s Creative and Design team: Demian Kendall, Roseanne Overton, and Alaina Lovera, to bring the idea to life. Internally, the teams played with various taglines, including “Ditch the Dongle,” before arriving at what’s widely known today as #ByeByeDongle.
Where was Dongle spotted?
At InfoComm 2024, an actor showed up in full head-to-toe Dongle regalia, outfitted by an SNL costume designer. Strutting outside the Logitech booth, accompanied by an actor dressed as a contact organizer, the duo posed for photos with InfoComm attendees, who then posted them on their social media. A mock interview with rAVe Pubs cemented Dongle’s presence at the show.
Since then, Dongle has appeared in Inc:
And Fast Company:
And of course, on social media:
How They Won: The Webby Factor
For those unfamiliar with how the “Oscars of the Internet” work, winning these awards is no small feat. The Webby Awards process is rigorous and split into two distinct paths to victory:
The Webby Award: This is determined by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS). A panel of over 3,000 industry experts, creators, and business leaders evaluates entries based on specific criteria like Content, Structure & Navigation, Visual Design, Functionality, Interactivity, and Overall Experience.
The People’s Voice Award: This is the fan-favorite. It’s a testament to the campaign’s reach and impact, as it’s decided entirely by the voting public.
Winning both means Logitech didn’t just impress industry experts with its strategy; it won the hearts of the people who actually use their gear. It’s validation that if you solve a real problem with a little bit of wit and irreverence, the world is going to take notice.
Where is Dongle now?
Dongle finally traded his utilitarian life for the neon glow of the Las Vegas Strip, where he feels right at home among the other relics of a bygone era. He is enjoying the freedom of not being plugged into anything, and has found time to write the best-seller, “Life After Desk: Dongley Careers for the Dongless.”
