At least they aren’t using sock puppets. Both Microsoft and IBM have unleashed television marketing campaigns aimed at businesses and their use of the trappings of that elusive category – Web services.
At least they aren’t using sock puppets. Both Microsoft and IBM have unleashed television marketing campaigns aimed at businesses and their use of the trappings of that elusive category – Web services.
IBM’s series of commercials shows a politically correct executive board. Each ad has the board members meeting with what appears to be a consultant in the black arts. We’re told about time machines, voodoo, pixie dust, binoculars that see into the future and more. The design is a mishmash of postindustrial society (the consultants) meets Depression-era businessmen (the executives).
According to Chris Wall, creative director for the ads from the Ogilvy agency, “It’s about the hype of technology and the overpromise that technology will cure everything.” Of course, the tag line is that IBM’s eBusiness solutions can cure everything. Even the possible humor in the situations (for example, when someone rubs the magic lamp the phone rings. It’s a call for the CEO from “Jeanie”) is done in such a heavy-handed and obvious way that I feel embarrassment rather than empathy, for the characters.
A dim view
The Microsoft series, though, is just plain silly. “Software for the agile business” is the theme, and it’s supposed to demonstrate that the Web-based .Net solutions from Microsoft allow your company “. . . to act on opportunities and react to threats – faster than your competition.” (No mention of what happens when your competition is using the same software, though.) But in one of these commercials that’s running heavily right now, a purchasing agent is demonstrating to his boss how quickly and easily he can place and change orders over the Web, when a co-worker sticks her head in and says she needs a light bulb. When it turns out she only needs one bulb for a lamp in her office, we’re all supposed to chuckle. The buyer says he “can’t order just one.” But a truly agile business needs to be able to order quantity one as well as quantity one million, doesn’t it?
Fifteen years ago when I was building an online just-in-time order system (based on Oracle rather than Microsoft software), I made sure it could handle any order for any quantity we could foreseeably need. That’s agility.
Tip of the week
In case you weren’t watching my NetWare newsletter, you should know that the erstwhile proprietary software company is relying more and more on open source tools (Apache, MySQL, Rsync and more) to further the venerable NetWare operating system’s functionality. It’s a bold move and one we should applaud and encourage. Bravo!
