Re: IBM Spin Doctors on AS/400 Marketing

Mike,

In a message dated 97-11-12 10:12:11 EST, you write:

> > I still don't feel like advertising 400s is as valuable to Rochester
>  >as advertising TVs is to Japan but I do see that there can be
>  >some sales from it.
>  
>  Unfortunately we got into all kinds of side issues on this discussion.

Agreed.

>  The value is there in the advertising but that doesn't necessarily
>  mean that it is the only item or the most important.
>  
>  Selling the AS/400 can be (and should be) approached from
>  many different angles:
>  
>  1.) General advertising - remember all kinds of institutions are
>  potential AS/400 customers and not all read professional
>  publications.  If brand recognition was similar to MS or Intel
>  it would help (some).  IBM has not done this (other than the
>  Pure Guavo commercial).
>  
This is part of what I've been looking for from IBM, although I must admit
going into hysterics over the unsolicited vision of John Sears dancing around
in a purple radiation suit ;-D.
>  
>  2.) Executive advertising - Get information out to CEO's,
>  COO's, and CFO's of the world.  Make them know that
>  it exists, it's not dead, etc.  This should include ads
>  for both the system and applications.  I think this is
>  being done fairly well.  If memory serves me this issue
>  came up at last years BP Summit.
>  
That's what _I_ want, although I'd disagree that it's currently being done
"fairly well".
>  
>  3.) Professional advertising - Get information out into
>  industry and professional areas - real estate, sales
>  management, mining, data collection, glass bottle
>  manufacturing, etc.  This probably is more important
>  that it be application based but it could be general
>  system.  I don't think this is being done well but I
>  could be missing something.  I wouldn't quote me
>  but I believe some of the ad $ are being passed
>  done to the solution providers....to assist them in
>  running an ad campaign.
>  
Agreed, and I think that this is the point Chris was trying to make on the
subject.  I like the idea presented wherein IBM offered cash discounts to
solution providers to run ads in their specific niches.  Unfortunately, I
don't think that IBM is mining its database to find those "universally
excepted solution providers" that could run an effective advertisement in
"Widget Week Illustrated".  And, even if IBM did, would they be shorting the
"newcomer" with the better solution and a smaller installed base?
>  
>  4.) Articles.  All kinds, all publications.  Never
>  underestimate the power of press - Good and
>  bad.  These can be both application and general
>  system based.  (If you read T.S. Elliot's Trilogy or
>  Megatrends you can get an appreciation for this.)
>  
Well, hasn't _THAT_ been our point about NT all along?
>  
>  5.) Industry analysis.  IBM has a lot of good and
>  substantiated reports that help spell out the benefits
>  of the system (IDC, Yankee Group, etc.).  Make them
>  available (done pretty well on the WEB) and keep them
>  coming.
>  
Unfortunately, IBM's efforts to make their own architecture compare favorably
to other systems has led to the accusation that they cannot perform to
industry-accepted standards.  I seem to recall that IBM systems in general
performed poorly on the old CPI-C standard (among others), so IBM just came
up with one of their own (rather than make the accepted standard apply to
their systems).  The days when IBM could get away with this are, of course,
long gone; however, IBM still doesn't seem to push to get a "grading curve"
wherein their systems' performance is graded on their throughput rather than
an arbitrary "TPM" standard.  This reminds me of a question on the list a
while back about "what MHz" the AS/400 processor runs at -- it's
_IRRELEVANT_.  Like Wayne Madden said at our LUG last night, all processors
wait at the same speed -- and most of them spend their time waiting.
>  
>  6.) Work with the BP's and keep them happy and help
>  make them better.
>  
_AMEN_!  They could use a _LOT_ of work here...
>  
>  7.) Keep the customer satisfaction high.  If we are happy
>  we will tell others....
>  
I think that IBM has done a pretty good job here, although they sometimes
have to be goaded by problems rather than preventing the problem in the first
place.  Locally, I've seen _several_ interventions by IBM due to poor
telephone interviews of customers.  Unfortunately, IBM pretty much "turned
over" the account to an unacceptable BP and didn't bother to "check up" until
the problem became almost unresolveable.  On the other hand, I cannot name a
_SINGLE_ successful AS/400 installation that would not recommend the box to
their peers.
>  
>  8.) Education.  Get the AS/400's out in the colleges and
>  get more people trained and familiar with the AS/400.
>  
I think that I've _MORE_ than made my feelings evident on this point.
>  
>  9.) Use the WEB.
>  
Despite still keeping the bulk of their information to BP's available on the
mainframe (can you say "More", "Running", "CP Read", "VM Read"?), I think
that IBM is doing a darn good job in this area -- especially for an
organization of their size.
>  
>  etc., etc. Sorry for chewing up bandwidth.

"Spam" chews up bandwidth.  Well-considered responses do not...

Cheers!

Dean Asmussen
Enterprise Systems Consulting, Inc.
Fuquay-Varina, NC  USA
E-Mail:  DAsmussen@aol.com

"After thirty, the body has a mind of its own." -- Bette Midler
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