Aravind Naidu wrote:
> Superb ad !!!
> Made my day....
That is exactly the reaction that IBM want ... and they want it from
you.
This ad would have been conceived by an ad agency ( not necisarily the
one
that created the general campain) in response to a brief from IBM
Marketing
that read something like......
Strategy: GET OPINION INFLUENCERS TO
REFER
TO THE IBM BRAND BY NAME
IN A
POSITIVE MANNER
Communication Objective: EVOKE A SENSE OF OWNERSHIP OF
THE IBM BRAND AMONGST
MEMBERS
OF THE TAGET GROUP.
MAKE THEM
FEEL THAT WE ARE THEIR
COMRADS-
IN-ARMS.
Target Audience: LINUX USERS
Creative Considerations: AD MUST NOT APPEAR TOO OBVIOUS
THEREFORE CREATIVE
EXECUTION
TO
BE CONSISTENT WITH
GENERAL
CAMPAIGN.
Media Strategy: ADS SHOULD BE SLOTTED INTO
GENERAL
MEDIA SCHEDULE WITH A
SLIGHT
WEIGHTING TOWARD NEW
MEDIA AND
TRADE PUBLICATIONS
..... DO
NOT
OVEREMPHASISE LINUX
PUBLICATIONS.
The target audience of this advertisement is not the "corporate public"
that
the overall campaign is targeted at but rather the people who influence
the
corporate public both by their actions and directly by word-of-mouth.
These
individuals are refered to in marketing jargon as "early adopters" and
"opinion influencers". Their influence is derived not from themselves
but
from the perception by the "corporate public" that .. ".......this guy
really
knows his stuff ... he's a real guru ..... he's been using Linux for
years".
The collective "corporate public" gives you this power. Regardless of
anything else they believe about you, your bathing habits, your
punctuality,
whether you drink or smoke or pick your nose, they have ABSOLUTE FAITH
that
you KNOW YOUR STUFF when it comes to computers. Even if they don't have
the
budget to follow your advice or water down your advice, the mere fact
that you
mention the IBM BRAND will influence them.
Ofcourse this ad will also do much to cause the "corporate public" to
value
"LINUX PEOPLE" more highly than they have in the past and for this, we
are
grateful to IBM.
........ I guess that means the Ad Agency did their job well.
Are Marketers and Ad Agencies really that cunning and manipulative?
NO, ofcourse not ... were just ordinary people like you ... hell, some
of us
are even
linux evangelists.
There's nothing wrong or weak about allowing yourself to be manipulated
but
atleast be aware of the manipulators motives.
"Evil John"
The Marketer
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
More Info: http://slug.org.au/lists/listinfo/slug
