Good point, Matt.
I for myself am not much interested in the content or output people
create, when I'm after information about certain software.
Doesn't tell much about how it's done. How many people have been working
on that ad/movie/demo? One or 900? What additional software have they
been using? What did they develop themselves?
Of course there's a incredible sh*tload of excellent stuff done with
Maya... does that make it the best choice?
What people need is clear info how many steps are necessary to achieve
something, often enough just simple things, so even the stubborn can
have a quick glance how slick Softimage is.
Honesty about what cannot be done so easily would be proper also.
Show me where the toolshed is, and how it is sorted out, and I'll find
my way around, so to speak.
Am 14.09.2012 00:26, schrieb Matt Lind:
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
