Cisco Faces the Masses. Networking Firm Aims for Wider Brand Recognition in 1st TV Campaign
latimes.com
Thursday, August 20, 1998
Advertising
By MARLA MATZER
How do you advertise something to consumers when the product is
hard to understand and you're competing against massive companies
that have already launched splashy image campaigns? If you're Cisco
Systems(), the leading maker of networking products for
the Internet, you try the "good citizens() of the global
village" route, favored by such technology giants as IBM to put a human
face on their operations.
San Jose-based Cisco will spend up to $60 million worldwide--half of
that in the U.S.--beginning Monday with its first TV ad campaign. The ads
debut as Cisco seeks to become a major player in the telecom equipment
business, going up against such entrenched giants as Lucent Technologies(
) and Nortel.
To further get its name out, Cisco is introducing a "Cisco NetWorks"
logo--similar in concept to the successful "Intel Inside" logo--to co-brand
electronics products made by other companies. Cisco already has
agreements with Sony, Matsushita and US West to co-brand modems, in
hopes of making Cisco a household word.
* * *
Jon Holtzman, former brand manager for Apple and current head of
Menlo Park, Calif.-based marketing firm Eclipse() Worldwide, says
the logo is a good idea for Cisco.
"Cisco is a tremendously successful company, but it really needs to brand
itself now," Holtzman said, adding that the success of the so-called
ingredient campaign will hinge on the effectiveness of Cisco's ads.
Cisco's customers need "to feel it adds value to put another company's
name on their product," Holtzman said. "That's where you need a major
marketing push to back that up."
Cisco faces a challenge similar to that of Lucent, which had to build
brand identity from scratch after spinning off from AT&T two years ago.
Kathy Fitzgerald, a senior vice president in charge of advertising for Murray
Hill, N.J.-based Lucent, says the company's brand recognition is greater
than 90% among business consumers. Among small-business consumers,
recognition is lower but respectable at 75%.
Lucent has achieved this through tens of millions of dollars in ad
spending, along with carefully orchestrated branding and public relations
efforts. Its current campaign emphasizes results--"a data network as reliable
as a voice network"--with gently humorous ads.
Cisco, which makes equipment that routes information to Internet surfers,
declined to release brand recognition statistics, though spokesman Doug
Wills says the firm is primarily known by consumers at this point as a good
stock.
Company revenue has rocketed from $69 million in 1990 to $8.5 billion
for the fiscal year ended July 25. Cisco is the third-highest-valued company
listed on Nasdaq and reached $100 billion in market capitalization faster
than any company in history, including Microsoft.
"Grandmothers love us," Wills joked.
In any case, Cisco clearly has some catching up to do in advertising
against Lucent, which spent more than $26 million--mostly on network
television--last year.
As with Lucent's media buys, the primary target for ads will be "business
decision makers"--mostly white males ages 25 to 54. That means running
the ads during business and sports programs, as well as selected prime-time
shows such as NBC's "ER."
But Cisco also strives for broad appeal, because the much-discussed
"convergence" of communications technology--data, video and voice
currently delivered via PC, TV and telephone--is just over the horizon.
* * *
Mike Massaro, chief operating officer of Cisco's ad firm, Goldberg
Moser O'Neill, says months of research and planning went into Cisco's first
TV effort.
"We looked at a lot of other advertising attempts on the part of
technology companies," he said, "and we saw two critical things lacking.
One was humanity. . . . The other was facts and substance."
There are no space-suited "BunnyPeople" in Cisco's ads, a la Intel's slick
campaign. Cisco and Goldberg Moser chose to have people of all
nationalities and ages deliver facts about the Internet in several settings
around the globe. Vietnam, Spain, London and New Orleans form the
backdrop for little children up to senior citizens to impart messages about
the explosive growth of the Internet and ask, "Are you ready?"
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
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