Conference 7.286::digital

    Dean, EXCELLENT!
    
    

    .1 Ditto
    
    The theme kind of makes me think of the new Chrysler Intrepid
    (spelling?) commercials that hook together.  I think it is creative
    anyways.
    
    Also makes me think of the Bull Computer ads that I see: 
    KnowledgeaBULL, GloBULL, DependaBULL, etc...
    
    I'd submit your ideas.

    re: .0
    
    I liked it the first time around and I like it even more now.
    
    Bob

    
    
    .3
     
     Couldn't agree more...go for it...Madison Ave. watch out!
    

    Maybe the employee involvement group should solicit ideas for ad
    campaigns from the entire company. I think it would give everybody a
    boost to come up with ways to give the public a positive impression of
    Digital Equipment Corporation. I know that not all of the ideas will be
    of the caliber of the ones in the base note but there'll be many
    winners I'm sure. 
    
    Steve B.

    .-1

    i agree, i too have some good ideas on commercials my self, but never knew
    what to do with them, where do we send any idea that we have?

    any one knows what mail address to use to mail the ideas to?
    
    /nasser

>     <<< Note 2232.7 by STAR::ABBASI "Nobel Price winner, expected 2040" >>>
>     -< where to submit it to? what is the address? any one in charge of >-

I agree with the comments so far and think it's high time Digital ran an
advertising campaign as good as the one in .0  I get fed up with seeing
all these adverts from other companies and none from us and then people
apparantly going round in circles wondering why we're losing money. Maybe
it's because not enough people are buying our products? Simple as it may
seem, this might be the answer and advertising could be the solution.
  
>   i agree, i too have some good ideas on commercials my self, but never knew
>   what to do with them, where do we send any idea that we have?

>   any one knows what mail address to use to mail the ideas to?

CAPNET::DELTA_IDEAS is the address I use. 

I would suggest you send any ideas to them, including the one in .0

Craig

    Digital's current ADs are porly done and geared to an audience type
    that I cannot identify.  The ADs in the base not are very interesting
    and show creativity.  Would bombarding DELTA_IDEAS with numerous
    requests to implement them be beneficial?
    
    Williams

> Would bombarding DELTA_IDEAS with numerous
>    requests to implement them be beneficial?

	Probably not. Delta just passes ideas on. They can't force the PR
	people to run adds. Bombarding the people who actually buy adds might
	help. But than again it might not.

		Alfred

>> Would bombarding DELTA_IDEAS with numerous
>>    requests to implement them be beneficial?

 >	Probably not. Delta just passes ideas on. They can't force the PR
 >	people to run adds. Bombarding the people who actually buy adds might
 >	help. But than again it might not.
    
    
    Just a point of clarification - 
    
    PR people have nothing to do with ads.  Corporate Advertising is
    responsible for all aspects of advertising, from creation to
    implementation.  The two disiplines are seperate from each other.
    
    Steve

I like it; but "Think as one" leads me to think about Big Brother
or IBM "Think" slogan. 

I also feel that one ad should focus or show the Digital benefits 
for small businesses. Now that we have a competitive PC offering, 
this often overlooked segment could be a big opening.

	erik

    If Digital is to excell and especially with the newly formed business
    units, you're type of advertising is a must. Personal computers do
    not sell on the PBS Nightly Business Report.  A friend of mine tells
    me one of the reasons why his public school system went with Apple
    was the sales pitch was better.  You can truly become a house hold
    name and still sell a quality product.  It's about time this company
    tells everyone how great it is.  If you hide from risks, you hide 
    from rewards. 
    
    R->
    

    
    
      Why not replace "Think as one"  with  "Distributed computing that
    works"  ?
    
    
    						-al
    

    Re.0
    If you do not want to take the chance and send your ideas to BP. Do I
    have your permission to send these ideas to him?
    
    If so, please reply here. I will watch here for your reply.
    
    PS: Your add ideas is a breath of fresh air. I do not want to comment
        on what I think of the add's that were put on the air recently. I
        talked to some knowledgable people in the business community, who
        saw our adds, and asked them what they thought. Their reply was not
    	anything to brag about.
    
    Dave
    

      The new VP of corporate advertising comes to us from IBM.I beleive
    he has been here a little over 6 months.One major problem that he
    related in a speech to us was the fact that there are to many groups
    with an advertising budget doing their own thing, instead of a central
    advertising group with a focus on just what our message is.The DIGITAL
    logo was also mentioned as being outdated (it hasn't changed since
    1958).
    
                                Rich
    
                                         

    we were talking a little about how DEC is not too good in making Ads
    this morning and some one mentioned a nice idea of an AD, have 2 vax's 
    connected together, both running things on them , and suddenly blow one of 
    them with a bazooka, and show that the other VAX still running just fine
    even with lost connection.

    this will bring out our connectivity, fall-over, clusters, and reliability
    aspects of our computers in very drastic way.

    i thought this will make a strong Ad.

    /nasser

Please, let's not change our logo and throw away what familiarity we have in the
marketplace.  Besides, we might wind up with something as silly as the new
Alpha AXP logo.

I hear ads on the radio for IBM, see ads on TV for HP, and heard an ad the other
night for Sun's Solaris operating system.  The ad wasn't from Sun, but a third
party selling Sun products.  It was unusual in that usually you hear ads for
pee-cees and Macintosh computers and stuff you can buy in a retail store.

There's no reason why Digital can't do similar ads.  The ones we showed this
year with the VAX in the steam room were a start, but we need to do very
specific advertising also.

Paul

In the PC space we have little to no familiarity, or the wrong
kind of familiarity (Rainbow, VAXmate, etc.), so a new logo would go 
hand in hand with Digital really changing how it does things. 
What do we have now, 0.5% of the PC market? And why
did they ask for a bypass of the standards about using the block 
logo on some of our recent PCs (Look at the base unit of the 
DECpc 400ST series--no Digital logo)...

For the general population who might be viewing potential TV
ads, I think the same is true. My neighbors, relatives, and so
on (all of course outside the GMA) have no clue what Digital does, 
other than an occasional mention in the stock news. 

Many people still are confused about DEC==Digital!

But is Digital really ready to move away from its conservative
image?  

And there's the continuity aspect -- that's the main thing in common
with our products for all those years since 1957, the Digital logo.

As much as I'd like to see us get our identity much more well known,
I'm not sure I am ready to say goodbye to the old familiar logo.

The other option is to update it, like GE and others have done.

	erik

    Before I begin, a dilema strikes me. Do I complement the author of .0
    for showing creativity and enthusiasm or criticize him for making, what
    I perceive to be, the same old DECmistakes. I will say nice try but the 
    semi-official reaction you have got is reasonable.

    From .0

    >I've tried to write what I believe is a clear, accurate, and an
    >aggressive-without-being-obnoxious campaign that targets a broad 
    								*****
    >spectrum audience with a suite of compatible messages.  I offer it for
     ***************** 
    >comment and criticism, and, if there's enthusiastic response, 
    >hopefully for consideration from our advertising folks. 

    Reaction:

    I absolutely disagree, depending on your definition of "broad
    spectrum". The messages conveyed involve mostly technical imagery and
    assume a great deal of prior knowledge on the part of the audience.
    While the ads might be appropriate for computer publications, my
    definition of "broad spectrum" audience wouldn't have a clue about a
    lot of this stuff. However DECfolks will love it, as witnessed by
    previous replies, but will they buy more from Digital as a result of
    this advertising? 

    MOUNT SOAPBOX 

    It is extremely important for the survival of Digital that Digital
    employees understand that very little of the ruthlessly competitive
    computer marketplace has Digital values or thinks like Digital
    employees. 

    DISMOUNT SOAPBOX

    The marketplace is not homogeneous, so no advertising campaign can be
    universally successful. A particular segment of the market needs to be
    targeted in terms that have some meaning for that market segment. 

    How much telephone technology is shown in the "broad spectrum audience"
    advertising of the local and long distance telephone companies?
    Telephony is just as "high tech" as computing. Would you sign up with
    AT&T because they have a No.5 ESS? 

    From the customers and prospective customers with whom I have come in
    contact, I hear that the high level issue that is keeping them awake at
    night is how to make some sense of and get some productive benefit from
    the explosion of personal computers and other information technology
    investments in their organizations. They are spending a fortune on this 
    stuff and have very little to show for it on the bottom line.

    WARNING - THE REMAINDER OF THIS REPLY MAY BE UNSUITABLE FOR MORE 
    	      SENSITIVE NOTERS WHO REALLY WORSHIP DEC TECHNOLOGY. 

    From here on my reply gets increasingly hostile sarcastic, which is my
    natural style, so if you don't like sarcasm or can't value differences
    hit <NEXT UNSEEN>. 

    Now, putting myself as the most hostile, cranky, irritible, had a bad
    week, semi-attentive decision making member of the potiential audience
    (not a particularly difficult role for me) for this advertising
    campaign, here are my other reactions: 

    The entire tenor of these proposed advertisement is DECcentric. I know
    we are very proud of what we do and it get us very pumped up when we
    talk about all of this wonderful technology. I really don't see much
    difference in style from previous Digital marketing approaches, which,
    by analogy stated in this Notesfile, would promote sushi as cold dead
    raw fish wrapped in seaweed. Too much product, not enough of what can
    be accomplished, in non technical terms, by using the product. 

    >Ad #1, for TV:

    >Objective:     To capture succinctly, and in 35 seconds, the essence 
    >               of DIGITAL's product mission -- our strategy.

    DECcentric from the outset - Why do I care about your mission and
    strategy? If you can't tell me in my terms what you will do for me, I
    won't pay any attention. 

    >Story board:   Someone at a workstation in an office cube.  DEC
    >               workstation.

    Starting with your product, rather than my problem. DECcentric again.
    Only a technoid will have a clue about what you are trying to convey. 

    >Ad #2, for TV and print:

    >Story board:  An Alpha_AXP workstation is running some eye-popping
    >              graphics application.  It's chugging along very quickly.

    What's a benchmark and why should I care? A drag racer goes really fast
    but I wouldn't drive to the supermarket in one. 

    >Ad #3, for TV and/or print:

    >Story board:  Show three Alpha_AXP systems side by side, one running
    >              OSF1, the next NT, the next OpenVMS, or *if possible*,
    >              show one workstation dynamically switch operating
    >              systems.  

    The average viewer of the average soap opera, if awake, might make an 
    assumption about tri-sexual computers and think of this as the latest 
    excess in high tech kinkiness. 

    >Ad #4, for TV and/or print:

    >Story board:  Show a DEC service rep repairing a SUN sparcstation.
    >              The machine covers are off.

    Once you have seen one box of electronics you have seen them all. Why
    does yours need to be fixed? 

    >Ad #5, for TV

    >Story board:  Show old VT100s being crushed for recycling.

    I would like to smash up a computer as well. They're nothing but high
    tech headaches. 

    >Story board:  Magazine page divided in half by a left-to-right
    >              diagonal line.  

    Portable Nintendo?

    >Ad #7, for TV and print:

    >Story board:  Show an office, after hours, in San Francisco, with 
    >              a VAX prominently in view.

    Californians are flakey anyway and they've bought your computers? I am
    not worried about earthquakes. 

    I like the whole concept, and further think it should be added to,
    expanded and USED! Despite the cranky rain_on_the_parade responses,
    which are valid, to a point, digital needs public exposure. So what if
    some/many/most viewers/readers don't get it? AT LEAST THEY WILL HAVE
    SEEN IT! SO WHAT IF THEY DON'T KNOW WHO/WHAT WE ARE? THEY CAN ASK! IF
    THEY ARE INTERESTING IN BUYING COMPUTERS THEY WILL. DON'T YOU PEOPLE
    GET IT? ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!
    
    >SET FLAME/SIMMER
    
    These ads should be tastefully quiet and have excellant graphics. And
    they must be part of a continuing series. The world knows IBM etc.
    because they advertise, often and (sometimes) well. The key is often.
    
    RE: Changing the logo. DON'T! But why not add one? Everybody knows
    "DEC" (every customer call us "DEC") so why not TWO logo's? A
    tastefully done "deathstar" ala AT&T? The "real" logo swimming back and
    forth from DEC to DIGITAL while a quiet voice says "Digital Equipment
    Corporation, presents - <insert large popular televised event here>"
    
    WHY NOT? Just because we've never tried, doesn't mean it can't/won't
    work.
    
    imho,fwiw.
    .mike.

    I noticed today the first time an Intel AD beside one of the main roads
    in French Riviera. A BIG table  with BIG numbers 486 and a text
    "inside".
    Text Intel was there with very small text. Impressive.
    
    Perhaps more so for me, because I'm in a process of buying a PC for
    myself and can't purchase it from Digital with a reasonable price.
    
    --Ritva 
    

    .--1
    >I noticed today the first time an Intel AD beside one of the main roads
    >in French Riviera. A BIG table  with BIG numbers 486 and a text
    >"inside".
    >Text Intel was there with very small text. Impressive.

    some told in that Intel would liked to use 586 for its new ship too
    because people familiar with it more that way, but they used the new
    'purioium' ,or whatever the name is, instead because judge said that 
    Intel do not have the right to the numbers and any one else could
    have called theirs 586 too.  

    i think name recognition is very strong, most people buy by name only,
    expecting something to be the best in its class just by its name.

    re: .23

    This is a simplification of the trademark status of "86" that is
    misleading.

    The issue was whether American Micro Devices had the right to use "386"
    in the descriptive name of its product, a Intel 80386-compatible
    microprocessor.  Intel made the broad claim that anything-86 was an
    infringement on its own trademarks.

    American Micro Devices claims were upheld and Intel's claims were not.

    Hence the the need for Intel to create brand awareness around its
    "Intel Inside" campaign.  The full discussion of what brand awareness
    means to Intel or to Digital probably belongs in NODEMO::MARKETING.

    The correct name is Pentium.  Digital's own "586-ready" advertising
    needs a bit a re-write.

    RE: .24-
    
    	I believe it's _Advanced_ Micro Devices.
    
    Phil

    re .19
    
    Remember the SONY logo matter couple of years back? They called a large
    tender world wide for a redesign of their corporate logo, AND THEN
    DECIDED TO KEEP THE OLD ONE!
    
    Perhaps we can do this too. If we get something better than the Alpha
    AXP logo, we could use that (and keep the old one as suggested back a
    few notes). If not, we could always keep the old one. Plenty of
    publicity generated too, don't know how much $$ it'll cost though.

    
    Saw ex-IBM Charlie & his team in action at the Marketing stream in
    DECUniversity in Club Med in France.
    
    Very interesting, with very specific impact on the tenor of this note.
    Suffice to say that I now understand that Digital is taking its
    image seriously, cross-corporation.
    
    Not possible to give further info yet, but do not despair ......
    
    

	re .0:

	Brilliant stuff! It's nice to see something well worked out
	and almost production-ready, too.

	re .20:

	You are missing the point. OK, so the ad in .0 mainly appeals
	to "technoids"... if by that you mean people who use keyboards,
	are familiar with Windows (the iconification) and networking.
	How many of those people are there out there today?

	ONE HELL OF A LOT, AND GROWING A LOT FASTER THAN DIGITAL'S
	INSTALLED BASE!

	For a start, ALL Sun and HP users. Presumably there's nothing
	wrong with hitting them? How about all Windows users? How about
	all the PC users who are thinking of using Windows, buying a
	modem, accessing worldwide information, etc?

	So, two reactions to .20's criticism of the base note:

	(1) All the "technoids" is a lot of people, including perhaps
	    most of the influencers (although not all the decision makers)
	    that we want to reach.

	(2) Who said the ad proposed in .0 should be the only one we run?
	    There is room for less technical ads (similar to Microsoft's
	    current UK TV ads which show, e.g. an old woman doing difficult
	    gymnastic routines, captioned something like "Microsoft makes
	    difficult things easy").

	The important thing is that .0 would be a GREAT improvement over
	what we do today, and that it shows fresh thinking. Go for it!

	/Tom

There are ads to create brand recognition, and there are ads to 
explain how a product can fill a customer's need. TV ads cannot
really do the latter for products like computers. (IBM had ads
that showed that their products could meet particular customers'
needs, but did not explain how. That is just too much for 30 sec.)

We need both types of ads. We need the brand recognition so that
potential customers will contact us for information on how
we can solve their problems. A flashy ad that sticks in the 
viewer's mind is what we need. 

For example, the 'Intel inside' ad which has the camera flying
around inside the computer does not explain why 'Intel inside'
is good; but the images stick in my mind. Explaining WHY one should
have 'Intel inside' would probably have most viewers going out
for a sandwich.

Now for a logo,
how about overlapping windows around the initials DEC (or digital
if we want to keep that). The windows can be in different styles:
Motif, Microsoft Windows, Sun Open Look. 

Something like this (alhough I can't draw the window borders 
correctly)


	+---+
	|  +---+
	| d|  +---+
	|  | e|   |
	+--|  | c |
	   +--|   |
	      +---+

This could be inside a box representing a monitor.

Now, if I could come up with a way of indicating networking
between the boxes...

Re: .-1

> We need both types of ads. We need the brand recognition so that
> potential customers will contact us for information on how
> we can solve their problems. A flashy ad that sticks in the 
> viewer's mind is what we need. 

Some of my folks went to an internal Marketing Conference in the South of
France last week. They said that a corporate comms VP did an excellent
presentation there, which was 45 minutes of theory on exploiting brand
equity, and how we'd failed to do it to date.

He then played back a test video to associate "Digital" with "networking" -
in this context, "bringing people together". The whole advert was apparently
executed to the music of "Imagine" by John Lennon. My folks thought it was
a most emotional and outstanding advert.

I hope we execute it for real...
								- Ian W.

Imagine how expensive it would be to license the music!

But it sounds good.

	erik

re: .27,

	Excellent thinking!  In the advertising business, the key
    to a successful ad campaign is not only to get a corporate image
    to stick in people's minds, but ideally to get it there for free!
    Free publicity is the most clever advertising of all (especially
    for a company like ours which really can't afford anything).  The
    trick is to get free publicity without it being a publicity stunt.
    I wasn't aware of the fact that Sony considered changing it's name,
    but who could have missed all the free publicity which ensued when
    "Unisys" was named?  What if DEC were to stage something like that?
    Instead of having an internal naming competition however, how about
    letting our customers name us?  Sure we'd get a lot of wise cracks,
    but so what?  What better way to humble ourselves to the market?

re: .29,

	+---+
	|  +---+
	| d|  +---+
	|  | e|   |
	+--|  | c |
	   +--|   |
	      +---+

	Not bad!    In 132-column mode it almost looks like 3 sheilds.
    By keeping with the kiddie-block logo font-style, we also retain
    some of the old digital appeal too.  The only thing is that in all
    other occurrences of the DEC abbreviation, the three letters are
    always capitalized.  What about:

	+---+
	|  +---+
	| D|  +---+
	|  | E|   |
	+--|  | C |
	   +--|   |
	      +---+

re: advertising campaigns in the notesfiles in general:

	What ever happened to the ADVERTISEMENT notesfile that briefly
    appeared a couple of years ago, collected a bunch of excellent ideas,
    and then mysteriously vanished back into a marketing abyss?

				   -davo

    I wish it were as simple as "going for it."  I sent ad #1 to 
    upper management several months ago, and although there 
    was some discussion, it was mostly to placate.  That's why
    I elaborated on the original concept and put it here,
    in the hopes that, *if* the campaign has merit, based on noter feedback, 
    then it might attract the serious attetion of someone who has the 
    power to act, which isn't to say this person would or should implement
    this campaign, but only that they give it a *good* look.  I wouldn't
    be pushing the campaign if I didn't think it was worth it.  And as I 
    said in my base note, you're welcome to extract and forward the 
    note to anyone (it has been sent to DELTA).
    
    Re: .20, "parade raining"
    
    "Think as one" implies a cohesive, efficient, information
    environment.  Getting all your people to think together.  Isn't that 
    a real-world problem?  
    
    It's not a sin to be pro-DEC, but no, the point isn't to sell DEC 
    to deccies.  In most of these ads, I've tried to imply DEC's ability 
    to solve problems through our products -- hardware, software, and 
    service.  The inferred thoughts should hopefully be as follows:
    
      ad 1) DEC can link any computers together, seamlessly, to interact
            synergistically.
    
      ad 2) DEC machines are hot.
    
      ad 3) DEC machines are open.  They'll run the software the customer
            wants, not what DEC tells them to run.
    
      ad 4) DEC service is equipped to handle any type of computer
            related problem.
    
      ad 5) DEC is concerned about the environment.  Granted, this
            isn't a service or a product; it's an attitude and
            commitment that is very attractive.  Would you buy
            a Honda because it gets good mileage (ie pollutes less)?
            A lot of people would.  Of course it helps to be competitive.
            The other ads say that.
    
      ad 6) We have machines for the low end, but they're by no
            means low.
    
      ad 7) DEC machines can "take a lickin' and keep on tickin'."
    
    I'm not quite sure how you divorce the campaign from the products, or from 
    DEC the corporation for that matter.  To do so seems counter-intuitive.  
    Otherwise, what's to prevent the viewer from calling HP?
    Which isn't to say I disagree with your comments.  How will a 
    fast AXP machine improve the life of a secretary?  Maybe by supporting 
    faster application development, and hence great admin products delivered 
    sooner.  Hmmmm.  Does sound like a tough sell as far as the secretary is
    concerned.  On the other hand, I think a lot of folks in TV land
    are more sophisticated than you think, and these concepts -- basic
    statements really -- would not be foreign. 
    
    Just imagine the novelty of being pro-DEC advertising!
    
    Re "IBM Charlie and his team."  Sounds good, but I wonder if 
        it "views" like a Pepsi commercial.

	Bah humbug.

	The music of Johnny 'iconoclast' Lennon being used
	to sell product?   Doesn't anyone have any sense of
	shame?  (There's probably some relevant lines in 
	"Working Class Hero" if I could but recall them).

    re: .0
    
    Without question, this has excellent promise.  I've sent it to all in
    my district.
    
    re: .20
    
    I encourage you to work with .0 in improving the ads.  You'd make an
    ardent sanity check.
    
    
    Dean, if your not in corporate advertising, you should be.
    
    Phil

    re: .34
    
    It could be worse.  The other night I heard Born To Be Wild by
    Steppenwolf on the TV and ran into the room to see what it was...
    
    It was an ad for Fischer Price pre-school big-wheel kinds of tricycles.
    
    Bob

    
    or, hearing "Cain't Get No Satisfaction" on the local  "easy listening"
    format radio station.

    
    BTW, Charlie also said in Opio that the DEC/Digital debate was re-held,
    & had been settled firmly for Digital ..... He didn't say why, but any
    firm decision is better than ambiguity.
    
    I can confirm TV ads were shown, but with the strict caveat that we should
    not rush around talking about them, as they do not yet have senior
    management approval & may change substantially.
    
    
    Colin

            <<< VAXWRK::$1$DUS6:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ALPHANOTES.NOTE;3 >>>
                         -< Alpha Support conference >-
================================================================================
Note 1101.33                  Poor Alpha Marketing                      33 of 34
PLUGH::NEEDLE "Money talks. Mine says "Good-Bye!""   52 lines  24-NOV-1992 12:15
                 -< Interesting advertising chart from ADWEEK >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm looking at the November 23, 1992 edition of ADWEEK, and it has a very
interesting chart as an adjunct to its story entitled "For Many Americans,
Technology Is a Necessary Evil", subtitled "A special report on market trends
by Yankelovich Partners".  Here's a very interesting chart from that article
(reproduced without permission):

It's 132-column, so use EVE SET WID 132 to view it all or extract it.
(Beyond 80 columns are 1991 and 1992 sales in case you don't want to bother).

j.

====================================================================================================================================
                            TOP COMPUTER COMPANIES
           Here are the top 10 computer companies, ranked by media
           expenditures for first-half 1992, including comparisons
                   with 1991 for media spending and sales.
====================================================================================================================================
Company           Lead agency          Ad spending (000) Ad spending (000)  %       1992           1991
location          location             first-half 1992   first-half 1991  change    sales          sales
====================================================================================================================================
DEC               Mullen Adertising    $28,102          $13,464            108      $13.9 billion*  $13.9 billion*
Maynard, MA       Wenham, MA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IBM Corp.         Lintas: New York,     26,985           18,371             46       45 billion**    64.7 billion
Armonk, NY        New York
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft Corp.   Ogilvy & Mather       26,869           23,186             15       2.3 billion**   2.3 billion
Redmond, WA       Los Angeles
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zeos Int'l        In-house              18,236           12,654             44      159.2 million**  230.9 million
St. Paul, Minn
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Compaq            Ammirati & Puris      16,736           12,908             29        3.3 billion    2.7 billion**
Houston           New York
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intel Corp       Dahlin Smith White     14,260           10,581             34        4 billion**    4.8 billion
Santa Clara, CA  Salt Lake City                                     
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dell Computer    Goldberg Moser O'Neill 13,918           10,128             37        2 billion�     890 million
Austin, TX       San Francisco
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Epson America    Foote, Cone, & Belding 12,485            2,368            427        1 billion�     900 million
Torrance, CA     San Francisco
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gateway 2000     In-house               11,229            5,699             97        1 billion�     627 million
San Francisco    
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hewlett-Packard  Saatchi & Saatchi      11,077            9,414             17        12.1 billion�  14.5 billion�
Palo Alto, CA    San Francisco
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Fiscal year ending 6/30  **Year-to-date or through 3rd quarter  �Projected full year  �Fiscal year ending 10/31  �11/1/91-7/31/92
Source: Adscope, Inc.

    Converging on a creative strategy and media plan is very difficult 
    if you can't agree on our strongest competitive differentiators.
    
    Advertising campaigns don't have to encompass every product, every
    service, every application, every potential customer.  Focus.
    
    Understand our "real life" market position.  Few outside these walls
    think we are the true market leader in anything.  Get real.
    
    Take a lesson from Apple, who held a competition of ad agencies to
    see who could develop the strongest campaign.  Winner gets the job.
    
    Digital is like the garage band that writes one song (ad campaign)
    every year, and breaks up in discouragement that they never get a
    big record contract.  Start SOMEWHERE, then get feedback, improve,
    try again, get feedback, etc.
    
    
     

re .0 and .20

I like the goal of your thoughts in .0, however, I must agree that I did 
not see a business problem being solved.  I did see an MIS problem being 
solved.  What if there were the standard icons from Windows moving around 
the net, showing how Lotus 123, Word for Windows and PowerPoint, files become 
a coherant presentation.  Extracting files from a glass house, a 
manufacturing floor, an engineers desk, and putting them together in a 
document that is sent to a CEO-like office.  The presentation has current 
work in progress inventory numbers, status of the latest design tuned for 
the largest customer, and sales numbers current to close of business the 
day before.  We close with a tag line like - "doesn't everybody do this 
way?"

We need to show we have a discriminator (networking?) that leads to solving 
business problems.  I have many customers who talk to DEC about technology 
issues because they think that is all we care about.  They expect we want 
to talk to them at a certain level, and if we are going to succeed in 
getting out of the box business and into the solutions business we must 
stop reinforcing their prior prejuidices.

matt

    I heard about the "Imagine" ads some weeks ago. My only comment was
    don't. Please don't misunderstand - I'm in favour of that kind of
    advertising for Digital just anti "Imagine".
    Firstly - its been over used. We did it with Rainbow/Pro etc. IBM with
    Ambra are using "Take your mind for a run..."
    Second - It leaves us open to "With Digital you can Imagine - H-P
    deliver" and similar response advertising.
    Third - A much better song would be "Ebony and Ivory" by Stevie Wonder.
    I'm not sure of the exact title but I'm certain we all know it.
    Contains lines like "Working (Living?) together in perfect harmony".
    Seems to fit NAS and networking better than Imagine.
    
    Andrew

    
    Re .41 -
    
    You've heard about the ads, but have you seen the TV mock-up?
    
    I saw it with a few hundred other folk. It got an instant rave
    reaction. I have personal reservations about one clip, but that's just
    me. Understand your comments on response ads, but it won't be that easy
    against this particular ad.
    
    I understand we will do exhaustive testing with samples of the target 
    audience. It's their views that count ....
    

    Re: Using "Imagine" or other popular songs as advertising music.


    Please don't.

    Commercial ditties are bad enough, but appropriating (excuse me,
    "licensing") a piece of popular music for a commercial makes me
    see red.  If I remember the association between the product and
    the music, as the advertiser intends, I will probably choose to
    buy a competing product from another supplier.  I can't believe
    that I'm the only person who feels this way.

    Is this the reaction we want to elicit from our customers?

	No you are not likely the only person who feels that way.
	But the fact of the matter is that people like that are
	a tiny minority. That just happens to be the fact, and ignoring
	facts is not a good way to run a profitable corporation.

					Tom_K

    
    re: Advertsing budgets.  *Loooonnngggg Gaaaaasssssssssssssssppppppp!*
           
 
    Of the ads in the basenote, only the first is fleshed out.  The rest 
    are rough sketches.  For what it's worth, here's a more complete 
    rendering of ad #2:

    TV and print:

    Story board:  Scene opens with an Alpha_AXP workstation displaying
                  logo.  Silence.

                  A second later, you here the sound of starter turning
                  over an engine.

                  The engine starts, and at the same instant, the workstation
                  displays a 3-D view of the car.  (Ferrari F40, Lamborghini 
                  Diablo, Jaguar 220, Vector GT, Porsche 959 -- pick your 
                  favorite).  The sound of the idling engine is mechanical
                  music.

                  Then the soundtrack-car begins an acceleration run.  
                  At the same instant, the 3-D view begins to rotate 
                  on its vertical axis.  One complete revolution in the 
                  time it takes to hit second gear.

                  (Record sound from a stationary point, so the volume 
                   decreases as the car speeds away.)

                  As the soundtrack-car car hits 60 mph, overlay the first 
                  row of specs.  

                        XXX SPECmarks     (0 to 60, 4.0 seconds)

                  Specs fade out after a second.

                  Choreographed to the shifts, begin rotating the 3-D 
                  display on it's horizontal axis, stop at 90 degrees (so 
                  you see the underside of the car) and open a second window 
                  with a zoomed-in, cut-away view of the shifter mechanicals.  
                  Have them move in conjunction with the next shift on the 
                  soundtrack.

                  As the soundtrack-car hits the 1/4 mile, overlay the second 
                  row of specs.  
   
                       XXX Mips          (1/4 mile, 12.0 seconds)

                  Specs fade out after a second.

                  By now, the soundtrack has diminished in volume to a distant,
                  mechanical roar.  
  
                  Close the second window, and rotate the car so it faces
                  out toward the viewer.  At the same time, in addition to 
                  the distant engine growl, the soundtrack-car takes a high 
                  speed turn.  Sound of tires straining for grip.  Again, 
                  distant.

                  Overlay the third set of specs.

                       XXX SPEC92        (Lateral acceleration  1.5 g)

                  Specs fade out after a second.
 
                  Image of car winks out, replaced by the same display
                  used at the start of the commercial.
    
                  The soundtrack car begins a full-throttle, top speed 
                  pass.

                  The volume builds very quickly, and at the precise instant 
                  of the Doppler shift (the sound an Indy car makes as
                  it goes by) display the last row of specs.

                       XXX Mhz           (Top speed, 210 mph)

                  Specs fade out after a second.
 
                  As the soundtrack-car hurtles off and the noise subsides, 
                  have the computer-generated DEC logo rotate into view -- each 
                  letter separate, rotating simultaneously (the PBS logo) -- 
                  at the bottom of the screen.  

                  Voice over: "Think fast."

    
                  The print media version would just be a still shot
                  of the machine and the specs, with the slogan in
                  quotes beneath the DEC logo.

    
    FYI...
    
    	Charlie Holleran
    	V.P. Corporate Communications
        HOLLERAN@MLO  (MTS$::"MLO::CHARLIE HOLLERAN")
    	223-1005
    
    		... just in case people see ideas in this string that
                    they'd like to being to the attention of someone who
    		    might have the power to do something with them
    

>                  The soundtrack car begins a full-throttle, top speed 
>                  pass.
>
>                  The volume builds very quickly, and at the precise instant 
>                  of the Doppler shift (the sound an Indy car makes as
>                  it goes by) display the last row of specs.
>
>                       XXX Mhz           (Top speed, 210 mph)
>
>                  Specs fade out after a second.
    
    or...
    
    ...and at the precise instant of the Doppler Shift, a hand reaches to
    the mouse and pushes a button.  The doors are blown off the
    (Ferrari|Porsche|whatever) and the desk is left smoking.
    
    	XXX MHz			(Top speed, 210 mph)
    
    ....
    
    Oh, this is fun!

><<< Note 2232.48 by SNOMAN::AARON "�Things do not change, we change.� -Thoreau" >>>
>                            -< Faster than fast... >-

>                  The volume builds very quickly, and at the precise instant 
>                  of the Doppler shift (the sound an Indy car makes as
>                  it goes by) display the last row of specs.
>
>                       XXX Mhz           (Top speed, 210 mph)
>

I think the following would be an improvement on this:

Display a clapped out old car doing 20mph and say "This is 20mph, many
CPUs today only do 20Mhz. Is your business still running at this speed?"
Display a car doing 66mph and say "This is 66mph, this is the fastest
speed many chips today can acheive". Then show the Indy car with Alpha
written on the side doing 200mph
"This, by comparison is the 200mhz which Alpha runs at today"

If you want to be first in the race for productivity, call Digital now
to find out how we can help you.

"We became obsessed with the machines themselves, their design and engineering
 - not with how our customers would use them. We cared more about our
 sensibilities as computer purists. We were like Formula One racers trying to
 create a family car. We kept coming up with something that still looked like
 a hot rod. This proclivity became most apparent when we'd talk among
 ourselves about a new machine. We'd spend 90 percent of the time discussing
 technological specifications, or what was inside the box. What was lost on
 us is that customers don't usually care about a machines innards. It could
 be filled with mush, just as long as it helps them run their business more
 efficiently. Instead, we kept giving customers these marvels of modern
 engineering - marvels in search of a problem to solve".

Sound familiar?
								- Ian W.

    re:.49
    
    Craig,
    Thats a *great* idea for a commercial. I wonder if BP reads here!
    
    Ken

    
    Re .51:
    
    This note string has been brought to the attention of Bob, and Charlie
    Holleran (VP Corporate Communications).
    
    It will be interesting to see what they do with this wealth of ideas.