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To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (9877)	6/4/2001 7:12:29 PM
From: Gottfried	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

Brian, I read several boards where AMAT is discussed. The ONLY criticism I've seen is related to these ads. Compared to other tech giants, AMAT really stands out. Gottfried

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (9877)	6/4/2001 10:04:31 PM
From: Katherine Derbyshire	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10921

>>If nothing else, the ads may give AMAT more visibility and the ability to attract engineers who may not have otherwise heard of them(and have gone to work to a competitor).<< I defy you to find an engineer in the field who hasn't heard of AMAT but has heard of any of their competitors. If such a person exists, which I doubt, ads on financial programs aren't the way to find him. This campaign is, IMO, aimed at investors. Katherine

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (9877)	6/5/2001 1:23:19 AM
From: TI2, TechInvestorToo	Respond to of 10921

I laughed when intel said they would become a household name thru ads. Then it happened. They were working on brand image for consumers (intel inside) AMAT's ads are for investment / corporate image-ads todays are cheap with dot.com implosion. TI2

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (9877)	6/5/2001 11:45:20 AM
From: w0z	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 10921

30M out of 20B is .15%, not a large ad budget IMHO $30M may not be large but the point is that it is wasted money. According to the original article I saw, AMAT's goal is to have the general public associate "Information for Everyone" with Applied Materials. This is completely insane and very inconsistent with AMAT's otherwise excellent management. Which would you rather have at a time when AMAT is giving employees pay cuts...$30M worth of image advertising or $30M worth of more R&D? Can ANYONE name me 1, that is ONE, company with 10B in sales with no advertising or commercials? AMAT already does a lot of print advertising in the industry press which is well-focused on their customers. TV advertising which targets the general public is a complete waste of resources and makes me question their management. I'm sure Porsche loves the ad...they are probably getting more out of it than AMAT! The only other company doing advertising as stupid is (unfortunately) my previous employer for 27 years...Agilent Technologies. They will lose money this coming quarter, have instituted pay cuts, etc yet continue another poorly-conceived public awareness campaign similar to AMAT's. My money is on NVLS so I'd be happy if AMAT spent even more on their campaign...if $30M is good $300M would be even better wouldn't it!