Re: IBM Linux Ad during Super Bowl

[Larry Bolhuis <lbolhuis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Don wrote:

> ....and how many times have we begged for a OS/400 centric ad just to
> showup somewhere....even at 3 a.m. on the independent stations in West
> Pigs Knuckle?
>
> Anyone hear the fat lady yet?
>  
OK  Maybe I've been brainwashed by Malcome Haines and Dr. Frank and John 
Reed, and others but.....  My company doesn't buy television advertising 
in our local market because the price of it is beyond the reach of our 
finances.  If it was within our finances we wouldn't do it anyway. Why? 
Because the average person watching television isn't the person 
responsible for purchasing an iSeries.  Pick any number you have heard, 
Recently I heard there are 750,000 iSeries and AS/400 CPUs out there. 
Right or wrong that's a teeny tiny fraction of those watching any TV 
show, Super Bowl included.  How dows Dodge, or GM, or Ford or even 
Pepsi/Coke or Budweiser/Millerdo it? VOLUMN baby. I didn't look up how 
may $40,000 vehicles the big three sell in a year but you can bet they 
EACH sell more units per year than IBM has sold AS/400 and iSeries 
EVER.It doesn't take a huge add on per unit to pay for their campaigns 
and oh by the way, nearly every single person who watched the superbowl 
owns or rides in a car, truck or SUV.   I spoke recently to the 
presedent of one of my customer oompanies. (A president who was most 
recently their director of sales) They sell products that you all have 
seen, especially if you've used a) A S/36, b) A S/38 as well as lots of 
other items more current than that. I asiked him why as a sucessfull 
market leading global company they didn't advertise on TV, or in Wall 
Street, or on Radio. Why? Because it doesn't cost effectively hit their 
target audience!  So go on wishing for a gigantic national or even world 
wide ad campaign for iSeries but then expect the price of your next 
iSeries to reflect the costs of that campaign.

So while I believe in the iSeries as much as anyone and would enjoy 
seeing national advertisement, I'm not holding my breath for them, nor 
declaring the iSeries dead because I don't see them.

- Larry


--
Larry Bolhuis                   IBM eServer Certified Systems Expert:
Vice President                    iSeries Technical Solutions V5R2
Arbor Solutions, Inc.             iSeries LPAR Technical Solutions V5R2
1345 Monroe NW Suite 259          iSeries Linux Technical Solutions V5R2
Grand Rapids, MI 49505            iSeries Windows Integration Technical 
Solutions V5R2
                               IBM eServer Certified Systems Specialist
(616) 451-2500                    iSeries System Administrator for 
OS/400 V5R2
(616) 451-2571 - Fax              AS/400 RPG IV Developer
(616) 260-4746 - Cell             iSeries System Command Operations V5R2