Sun Tzu, Don't confuse marketing with investor relations. I would agree that TDFX has done a very poor job of investor relations this past summer. However, IMO marketing has never been their problem. There is no doubt that gamers (their market target) know the TDFX brand. TDFX invented the market with Voodoo 1 and have developed an extremely loyal following since then. Banshee is still under wraps from a marketing perspective given their apparent interest in catering to their OEM's. They have brought in some heavy weight firms to further expand an already strong brand to a new target audience (the general consumer). The marketing blitz has yet to begin and I fully expect to see some good things from them. Keep in mind that this new target audience would not be aware of any "leaked tidbits" because these are the mainstream folks. Their new targets are the wp, spreadsheet and TurboTax crowd. They don't follow the gaming scene but they may read PC Magazine, if that. These are the people that you work with that never even heard the TDFX name. Much bigger challenge but I think the PC as a gaming platform will experience tremendous growth over the next year starting with this upcoming 3D Christmas season. One suggestion, ask your freinds that own PC's what graphic card they have, gauge their responses. I found that those that didn't know had Matrox, ATI or some other card when they actually checked. Those that did know, either had or wanted a TDFX card. I'm not expecting miracles and it will take time for them to gain significant market/mindshare. I just wish they handled investor relations as well as they handled marketing. Joe C.
Having said that, |
