Don:
Re: marketing. You are correct IMHO. I have long admired Novell's principled approach to marketing, i.e. let the product sell itself. Unfortunately, "brand management" is an all too real necessity. I do not believe NOVL would be compromising its principles by simply letting the world know it exists. No hard-sell, no Ballmeresque BS, just get the name and the logo out there into the mass market. I dare say that most people don't know squat about what Oracle, Sun, and Cisco do. Then one day they're introduced to the respective technologies, and the names that were repeatedly flashed across the TV screen during all those weekend sporting events, heretofore ignored, suddenly have instant cache. "Oh sure, I've heard of them." At that very moment, these companies simultaneously have no competition and a whole ton of credibility. Half the sale is already made.
This works for commodities (Nike, Compaq, Tide, Instead). Why wouldn't it work even better for specialty producers like Novell. As it is now; "yeah, I've heard of Novell. They compete with Microsoft" (i.e. will be buried soon, so forget about it). Why do people always hear about Microsoft first and repeatedly? The same reason they hear about Nike first and repeatedly. These companies buy into each new generation with brand management. Maybe NOVL should've hired somebody from P&G instead of Sun. I ramble when I'm angry... Sorry.
Regards,
AJ |
