how about translating the success stories from Japan's Autodesk (Softimage)?
On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 6:34 AM, Maurice Patel <[email protected]>wrote: > Hi Matt, > > You are spot on when it comes to the importance of relevant information. > Last year I specifically worked with the AREA Team on this issue. We had a > challenge that unless you are a top revenue product you disappear on .com > and there was no one place that was really good to send people for more > detailed information. We decided to create a section on AREA where we could > do that - a richer product home so to speak. One that could be fuelled not > only by us but by the community too. We still need to tie the Social Media > aspect into it and are working on things like social sign on. But yes > ultimately it would be great if we can continue to refine and expand on > this aspect of the site. And yes you can access it from the homepage :) > > http://www.the-area.com/products/view/softimage > > > Maurice Patel > Autodesk : Tél: 514 954-7134 > > From: [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Matt Lind > Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:26 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: RE: In case you missed it.. > > I agree. > > I don't know about anybody else, but I could care less about demo reels. > The only time I see them is when I'm at a user group or waiting for a > product demonstration to begin, and since there are no more user groups and > product demos are basically web downloads, where do I see demos today? > Mostly as screen savers at siggraph when the demo guy is taking a lunch > break. I don't hang around those booths because I visit booths to talk to > people and ask questions. > > Demo reels are important for students and people new to the industry as a > whole, but I think they're irrelevant for people who have been in the > industry a while because they become jaded like me from having seen it all > before. We need something more that currently isn't being delivered. > > As a more experienced and mature demographic, what I want is information. > I want to see benefit in black and white. I want to determine if I can > truly work smarter, not harder, compared to what I'm doing now. I think > this aspect of Softimage marketing has been absent for the past 10 years. > The exception being the debut of ICE with v7.0. Prior to that the last > time I saw something informative that made me pay attention was the > animation mixer and perhaps GATOR. However, even in those cases the demos > weren't very informative, they were more eye candy pieces. > > What I seek is a short synopsis like a movie trailer (length) that is > information driven. If it catches my interest, let me watch something more > in-depth to get the answers to my questions. These don't have to be > high-tech demonstrations, just clearly *informative and comprehensive* > relative to what's being marketed. Stay way from glossy buzz words and > trendy catch phrases. Focus more on the information's value to educate the > target audience. > > I used to demo Softimage in my locale when Softimage didn't have the > budget to send somebody out from Montreal. I am information driven, and > was always told by attendees that they felt my demos were the most helpful > to make decisions. I don't know if sales improved or not as I didn't have > access to that information, but the feedback I received from all demos were > pretty consistent. I think people are starved for facts as they don't want > to have to wade through all the BS to get the info they seek, and in many > cases, some people are making decisions to expand a company or switch a > pipeline and aren't fully informed themselves what they are looking for > because perhaps they're striving for something a bit outside of their > comfort zone or level of experience. Informative demos help them, and a > good informative demo will entice a customer to follow up. > > > Matt > > > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Sam Cuttriss > Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 2:50 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: In case you missed it.. > > Stop thinking of advertising/ demonstration/ documentation and education > as isolated entities. > in doing so you can make the money you spend massively more productive. > > look at the success of stephen blairs blog: http://xsisupport.com/ > ( Its criminally insane you fired him by the way ) > its a go to site for anyone using ice. > > With a little work something like that could be dressed up as a showcase > of softimage work and a technical reference of production techniques. > An inspiration to students, and something to pique the curiosity of > professionals using other softwares. > > _sam > > > > >
