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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Doyle who wrote (27084)	6/1/1999 6:23:00 PM
From: George Papadopoulos	Respond to of 42771

> Novell's ads seem to fall in the middle neither pushing a product or being very flashy. I just don't get it!!! Please tell me what you think. I think that "quiet" and "revolution" don't go well together and sends mixed messages<g> Thanks for posting here, please post more, we need to hear more from your perspective! George

To: Don Doyle who wrote (27084)	6/1/1999 7:13:00 PM
From: Frederick Smart	Respond to of 42771

Novell's Marketing Needs More ENERGY!! >>I don't get our ads either? The latest incarnation is a guy standing in the desert by the highway with a sign that says flash floods and he is looking up. What in the hell is this supposed to mean. I am really looking for help with this one. My point is this, there are flashy ads that don't tell you what the company sells but the flashyness of the ad can carry it. On the other hand, there are simple ads that really talk about a product and it's benefits. Either of these ads can work. Novell's ads seem to fall in the middle neither pushing a product or being very flashy. I just don't get it!!! Please tell me what you think.>> Don: Great feedback! Marketing and branding go to the heart of things that are very deep rooted in any corporation. You can't change these things overnight. I think Schmidt is making a positive impact. The desert ad is just one attempt. Sure, many won't "get it". But that's not the point. The point is they need to keep the energy flowing. Try new approaches. Don't get anal. How many CIO's do we need to see standing on the tarmak next to a 767 to understand and feel a sense of authority and power? What if the guy just jumped in the air 1/2 an inch. Walla!! A whole new ballgame! Be creative. Look at Microsoft. My God, their ads look like they just got off the boat. Very one dimensional. Sure they have some wackey looking folks show their faces from time to time, but that's the exception. Big Red marketing needs to embrace this revolution. What happened to "Rock The Net". That came out during Novell's dark days. Someone at least had some glimpse of this energy. Well, it's time to find the throttle and pull this bird back up into the stratosphere. Forget about quiet revolutions. For starters, how about - for all you CAPS haters - "The QUIET revolution" Shout this vision, spread the mindshare, get out there, take the gloves off, dance, do back flips, land on your nose, bloody your nose, get inside some heads, turn some attention, get in touch with the energy that's shaking the foundation of our day to day world. NDS - It's not am umbrella. It's YOU!! GO!!

To: Don Doyle who wrote (27084)	6/1/1999 8:35:00 PM
From: EPS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

"The latest incarnation is a guy standing in the desert by the highway with a sign that says flash floods and he is looking up. What in the hell is this supposed to mean. I am really looking for help with this one." Hi Don, YES count me too for this one. I'm tired of seeing this one page add in the NYT. The colors are dark, there is a lot of red (but the red is somehow smeared.) There is this guy in the dessert... As my grandma used to say ----(expletive) I love the IBM and SUN TV commercials. Microsoft has a new series of adds that are also clever. Even HP is pushing the envelope with their adds... The NOVELL add talks about reliability...I guess some people will end up trying to buy NOVL at the pharmacy?? I'm afraid this is the tip of the big iceberg. To have good products is not good enough.. Regards Victor

To: Don Doyle who wrote (27084)	6/3/1999 10:56:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Respond to of 42771

Don, There are several things that NOVL can do make NDS more tangible to the industry and end consumer. The first is for NOVL to communicate to the consumer in a way that that the recent Boston Globe article communicated NDS. It was simplistic and chalked full of real-life examples of how an end-consumer could leverage NDS. If they could develop a simplistic and "Real-World" set of messages to be advertised, the next thing is to advertise the message where overall mindshare can grow at a quick pace - TV. Commercials on CNN and CNBC would go a huge way to pump mindshare, and mindshare moves marketshare! The message MUST - in a clear and simple way - explain to people what a Directory Service is and its uses to the industry and consumer. I have talked about examples of this message before on this board. NOVL has always stated that they do not prefer advertising on TV because its too costly and represents more of a "Shotgun" approach to marketing. They would prefer to advertise and market directly to the key influencers and decision makers in the corp. communnity. While I agree that their marketing approach is valuable, I see that "ShotGun" advertising is the most effective way to increase mindshare in the industry and the public community - and mindshare is an extremely powerful tool to move the corp. decision makers. Look what mindshare did to CISCO regarding NDS. The mindshare pressure has forced CISCO to develop a much stronger relationship with NOVL on NDS, even in the light of their restrictive Active Directory contract relationship with MSFT. The other big step NOVL could do to make NDS more tangible is to have the guts to put a product like Digital-Me onto the Internet as a Service Portal. It would clearly demonstrate the value, power, and scaleability of NDS on the Internet! Some people have stated NOVL is hesitant to do this because the industry would not accept this level of trust in the hands of NOVL. I completely disagree in that the majority of Internet companies that we all have learned to use (i.e. Amazon, Ebay, etc.) with absolutely NO history have quickly been accepted by the Internet community as companies that are trusted to store personal data into. These companies currently hold their customers' mailing information, credit card information, buying habits, personal preferences, etc. So why would a company like NOVL not be accepted? They would! I agree with you that NOVL's commercials have commonly been too artistic and the message being "impressionistic". The messages don't commonly deliver on one demand that the reader/viewer has of the message - "SHOW ME THE MONEY!", "TELL ME WHAT IT CAN DO FOR ME", "GIVE ME CLEAR EXAMPLES OF HOW YOUR NDS WOULD HELP ME". I just don't understand why NOVL over all these years has never been able to shake their ineffective advertising and marketing issues. It seems to be the one monkey that simply will not let go of NOVL's back no matter how many times they try to shake it loose. I have watched NOVL for 14 years and I am skeptical that even Eric can fix this problem. Those are my thoughts Don. Cheers Toy