Conference 7.286::digital

    Young and Rubicam.
    
    								-mr. bill

    Actually those ads are doing wonderfully (no sarcasm) for DIGITAL...
    see the latest DIGITAL Today for details.  K

    The best ad for an Alpha that I've ever seen isn't one that we did.
    
    It can be found on page 37 of the LINUX Journal, March 1997 edition.
    It is an ad for DCG Computers, Inc.  Upon closer inspection, I'd gather
    it was done for very low cost, since some of the spacing of the copy
    isn't as perfect as I'd expect and some technical details could stand
    some enhancement.
    
    Nonetheless, the images on the page were SO striking that upon flipping
    past it, I IMMEDIATELY turned back to the page to check out the images
    and read the copy.  I've NEVER done that with a Digital ad, to the best
    of my recollection.
    
    In brief, the ad looks as follows:
    
    -------------------
    
    [DCG logo, etc. here]
    
    		What could be better than a FREE 64 bit O/S?  Well...
    The fastest 64 bit uni-processor computer in the world to run it on of 
    course!
    
    	[Image 1: "Linux Intel"]	[Image 2: "Linux Alpha"]
    
    [Image 1 is a standard looking monitor and keyboard on a desk; it's a
    rather dark image and looks dreary.  Image2 is a similar keyboard and
    monitor being torn apart by a massively powerful explosion eminating 
    from within.]
    
    			We Think the Choice is Clear...
    
    [Short details on three different Alpha systems]
    
    P.S. ... Did we mention the license cost per seat for Linux.... Oh
    yeah... there isn't one....
    
    Our Linux is powered by a generation 	[ALPHA GENERATION logo]
    
    ------
    [End of ad]
    
    This ad won't win any awards, but I found it to be HIGHLY effective
    visually and left me with a clear concept of why I should consider one
    of these Alpha boxes.
    
    Scratch the chimps (or let them scratch themselves :^).  The DCG ad is
    effective!
    
    -- Russ

    re .2: Maybe in US, but the smae ones run in many different European
    countries... I've heard less flattering comments from customers (I
    don't know what our potential customers think).
    

>    re .2: Maybe in US, but the smae ones run in many different European
>    countries... I've heard less flattering comments from customers (I
 
  This probably reflects, among other things, the fact that a higher percentage
of Europeans than Americans know that a chimpanzee is not a monkey.    

    re .5: Chimpanzees, men, etc. are all monkeys to me...  ;-)
    (but I always had really bad gardes in zoology/biology in high school).
    
    The German version may be mildly funny, as they use the term
    "Affentheater", but then again, German businesspeople are usually not
    impressed by humor.
    
    The Finnish version I find totally ridiculous - and these appear in the
    largest daily newspaper with an order of magnitude greater circulation
    than anyhing else.
    

    Ora
    	what's ridiculous about the Finnish version - the translation?
    /a

    re .7: 
    
    �what's ridiculous about the Finnish version - the translation?
    
    I haven't seen all the original US versions, but I think the ads aren't
    really translated, but somewhat adapted to the target
    country/language...
    
    To be honest, I would have to have the ad here in front of me to be
    able to tear it apart (figuratively speaking... ;-).
    
    I have a German one here in front of me - the title says "Affentheater,
    Akt 25" (Monkey theatre, 25th act). Now the term "Affentheater" in
    German is probably much closer than I like to what's _really_ happening
    in this company...
    
    I'm certainly not an expert on advertising, but I think it's a bit
    dangerous to use animals as important symbols in international
    adevrtising - different animals can have very different connotations in
    different languages/cultures... at least, for me, there's nothing
    positive about monkeys (or chimpanzees or whatever that creature is).
    

    In 15 years only one set of adds ever evoked comments from customers.
    Remember the rock n roll in your face loud ads? People remembered them.
    I am not an advertising professional, but I thought that was the object
    of the exercise. Naturally they were dropped, aversion to success and
    all.
    The primate on your back is probably CHEAP. Besides we aren't losing
    customers, senior level management is evaluated on the basis of
    customer loyalty now and if there was a problem they would be firing
    VP's left and right.
    One thing everyone overlooks is when the chimps arent in makeup or on
    camera they are writing the OMEGA application.

	Ok, I have to pick this nit.. It's driving me crazy...


	Add = short for addition

	ad = short for advert or advertisement


	There, I feel better now that I've pissed off the misspellers
	of the world. :) :)

								mike

    re .10:
    
    	>Add = short for addition
    
    ...or the verb "to add"
    

    How about when people use "and" where they should have used "an"
    It drives me bonkers sometimes. :-)
    
    an  - as in an apple, an orange
    and - as in apples and oranges
    
    Now I don't want to hear from those who claim that the substitution
    of and for an could be a typo. The "d" key is just too far away from
    the "n" key for this to happen. :-)
    Of course the one that simply knocks the roof off is people injecting
    "you know" everywhere in their verbal speech. I sometimes have to
    resort to saying in an acknowleging manner "I know" a few times. It
    usually gets their attention.
    
    Bob

	I read those two notes on wording... I had thought Shawn Labounty had
written them. I was wrong.

    
    Maybe Ebonics is also going to be in rittin (sp) form.
    
    What's up.  Whuhsup.  Sup.
    
    /art

    
    Regarding OMEGA and the CHIMPS, what are the CHIMPS suppose to do?
    
    After doing a stellar job on TMS, the CHIMPS jumped on OMEGA.

I have my own benchmark on our advertising.  When I give presentations to 
Digital people about what Lotus Notes is, I show one of the Lotus/Domino 
television ads (via an AVI file).  You may have seen the ads (Dennis Leary at 
an Internet Cafe or talking to Jack Webb).  After showing the ads I comment 
"Lotus may have Dennis Leary, but we've got monkeys in our ads".  Then I wait 
for comments from the audience.

It's not a pretty sight.

john

    
    The right comparison is OUR TV ads vs. Mr. Leary - 
    
    IMHO - "Lotus may have Dennis Leary - we have CUSTOMERS in our ads".
    
    The AVI files are availaible through the IR.
                 
    While not my campaign - I also don't support sabotaging the NT effort.
    
    BT

Who or what is Dennis Leary?

And more importantly, why should I care?

    
    Dennis LEary is a local COMIC making the big time.  HE has been in
    several movies, and now is the TV pitchman for Lotus Domino.  His schtick
    is no nonsense, acerbic, and wise guy.
    
    

One of the things about the Domino ads is that when I show them, most people 
recognize them.  That's because Lotus actually puts their ads on 
television.  Lotus also includes the AVI files on the CD-ROMs they give away 
at Lotusphere and to business partners. 

I guess our customers have to have access to IR to see our ads?

True, ads aren't everything.  I went looking for Microsoft ads about Exchange 
and couldn't find any.

re Note 5119.20 by john boebinger:

> True, ads aren't everything.  I went looking for Microsoft ads about Exchange 
> and couldn't find any.
  
        Microsoft may not place their ads on their web site, but one
        thing they do aggressively is to post responses and rebuttals
        to competitors' claims on their site -- it is easy to get
        Microsoft's view of Exchange compared with Domino and
        Exchange compared with Collabra, for example.

        This is actually useful information when trying to compare
        products, as long as one can get the opposing viewpoint as
        well.  Unfortunately, Lotus and Netscape do not seem to have
        much in the way of pointed comparisons to the competition on
        their sites.

        Bob

    
    It will be interesting to see what Lotus is putting behind their ads.
    
    Our ads for past two years have been on Sales Source CD-ROM, and will
    be on the new one out soon.
    
    BT

re .-1

If you mean what products is Lotus putting behind their ads, then the answer 
is quite a lot.  They've completely repositioned Notes from a proprietary 
groupware product to a force in the Internet/Intranet market.  They've even 
renamed the product "Lotus Domino, powered by Notes".  There is a very 
sophisticated front end, where you answer questions and it generates a 
complet web site, including discussion forums, your product information, and 
credit card verification for purchases.  Notes databases (and Notes 
applications) can be accessed via HTTP.  All this without writing a line of 
HTML or CGI.

(Fortunately for Digital, it is something of a CPU hog, and it runs very 
nicely on AlphaServers.  In fact, right now Digital has the record for the 
largest number of simultaneous Notes users.  Wait till NT V5.0 and 8400 
support comes along).

Anyway, what is most impressive is that the company turned on a dime, 
switching from the proprietary focus to the Internet.  The complete process 
from decision to a large number of shipping products took place in 18 months. 
 Incredibly, all this took place while Lotus was being absorbed by IBM.  
Also, this took place in spite of (or perhaps because of) large changes at 
the very top of the company.

Microsoft is undertaking a similar major change toward the Internet, although 
not as quickly.  Then again, Microsoft's dominant position in a broader 
market means that they aren't faced with the same type of survival question 
that faced Lotus.  Nevertheless, it is interesting how the two companies have 
been able to quickly change their focus.

So the push ("Work the Web", "no chat rooms, no smiley faces, just raw, 
in-your-face capitalism") does have somthing behind it.

john

Re: .22:
>Our ads for past two years have been on Sales Source CD-ROM, and will
>    be on the new one out soon.

I thought the point in .20 is that the Lotus CD-ROM disks were being
given out to potential customers.  That's a little different from
making the .AVI files available for sales people to watch...

re.23:

>Microsoft is undertaking a similar major change toward the Internet, although 
>not as quickly.  Then again, Microsoft's dominant position in a broader 
>market means that they aren't faced with the same type of survival question 
>that faced Lotus.  

I would have thought that Microsoft faces a much bigger "survival question" 
than any other IT company. If the move to centralised computing and the 
thin client happens as fast as analysts predict then won't this cause a 
massive decrease in PC sales and Wintel revenue? 

Dave.

RE: .25

	Microsoft is attacking that too. (I can't in good conscience
	say MS is "addressing that. They attack)

	There is the SIPC, a simplified PC effort. 

	The OnNow effort so that when you turn your PC on, it's available
	in a couple of seconds, not minutes

	The biggest push is in the ability to have systems update
	themselves. A new driver comes out, goes up on a central server,
	the PC sees it and updates itself.

	And then the NetPC, a cutdown PC-based Network Computer.

	Oh yea, I think they are quite aware of this trend and ready
	to capitalize on it.

							mike

One must admire how both Lotus and Microsoft are reacting quickly to changing 
market conditions.  Among other things, Lotus is rewriting SmartSuite in Java 
so it will be available as the premier set of office applications for the 
Network Computer.  While our focus on NT will probably be a correct decision, 
there is still a question of what we should do beyond simply shipping Alpha 
boxes and saying we like NT.

To get back to the base note, Lotus has ads that are at least interesting.  
They put them on television, and on CD-ROMs that go to customers.  In 
addition, IBM (different ad agency, no less) also pushes Lotus Domino in 
their ads (remember the monks and Santa Claus ads?).

Microsoft, as has been noted in this string, uses attack information on their 
web site to make sure there is a clear differentiation between their products 
and those of their competitors.  They also run television ads (although 
personally I don't find them as memorable as the Lotus ads).

We may have interesting ads somewhere.  Being a lowly Digital at the end of a 
28K connection, I haven't seen them, either on CD-ROM or on television.  Good 
luck to customers who might be influenced by them.

    Hop over to AltaVista, Yahoo, etc. and ask it to find info about
    semiconductors, and enjoy the ad that pops up... 
    

    I didnt do it, but I did try the word "flatulence", expecting to get an
    add for Microsoft. Doubleclick just hung up entirely.
    
    IMHO Doubleclick are losing money by not selling more obscure words at
    lower rates.

    
    	Lower rates?
    
    	Gas is expensive these days!!
    

There is a four page ad in the April, 1997, NASA Tech Briefs for a 
company called Parametric Technology Corporation.  Since it had a
small "digital" logo on the first page I decided to take a look.

This is the best ad for Digital Equipment Corporation I've seen
in a decade!

Page one describes the evolution of product development from UNIX to
WindowsNT.  Page two tells why WindowsNT, Digital Hardware, and
Pro/ENGINEER (their software) are so great.  Pages three and four
are case studies with testimonials.

I am deeply suspicious that a DIGITAL marketer was involved in the
production of this ad.  Good job!

This production had things I like:

 - pleasant color scheme
 - excellent choice of graphical elements
 - good grammar; no sentence fragments
 - DIGITAL shamelessly spelled "Digital" 
 - repeated descriptions of how fast Digital Alpha workstation are
 - a reference to "Digital NT systems"

This production did not have things I hate:

 - NOHEADLINESTHATI'VENEVERREADBECAUSE
   ICANNOTREADTHISKINDOFPRINTINGHONESTLY!
 - no monkeys

Yet in all this the ad never mentions the copyright holders of WindowsNT.

Excellent job,
Chuck

The corporate standard monkey ad on page 23 pales in comparison IMO.

And while we're at it, who's responsible for the extra "d" in what is 
supposed to be "ads" in the title of this note?  8^)

    >> who's responsible for the extra "d"
    
    The monkey with the brushed out tit of course.

    It should be mentioned...
    Business Week's Annual list of Excellence in Advertising came out
    last week and DIGITAL was among the 12 winners.  (So we got a
    free monkey ad reprint out of it).

    I saw the Business week issue. 
    
    The winning ad was NOT one of the monkey ads.

    
    Award was not for Monkey campaign - but last year's campaign on the
    Future of Computing.
    
    BT