Comments

Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a geek, but I like the sound of that ad.
It sure beats the "Providing quality solutions to meet you business needs" type of thing that so many IT companies end up using.
And it also harks back to something I remember Tom writing in "The Pursuit of Wow!" about companies having CEOs that can demonstrate their products.

Posted by Gary at January 18, 2005 5:21 AM

I am not sure I like that particular ad but I do agree with Gary. I have worked for a long time in the IT industry (both vendor and buyer side) and I am sick and tired of hearing the words solution and business needs. It has become part of the background noise.

So many times I have sat with customers and seen sales and marketing types talking about solutions etc. The customer's eyes glaze over - there is no connection. What they want to know is does the PRODUCT have the features they want to use.

It IS that simple!!!!

Why are we scared to talk about products??

Let's get something straight - people buy products despite the way sales and marketing go about their business not because of.

It’s all about brand and emotional connection now – The problem is that what I want is good PRODUCTS and the world isn’t delivering

Posted by PaulH at January 18, 2005 9:36 AM

Sorry - bit of a rant there! But I guess I can't be accused of lacking in passion!

Posted by PaulH at January 18, 2005 9:38 AM

Steve - you are in an ADWORLD parallel universe - I know how you feel though.

Geico, AFLAC and others that disturb my few REMAINING moments of "SANITY" incur bad-mouthing and RANTING e-mails.

Take back the AD landscape I say - we must prevail.

Posted by John at January 18, 2005 9:59 AM

Gary and Paul, the TRUE problem is that neither the sales drones nor the technogeeks are really talking TO the prospect -- they're both talking AT them.

The geeks care only about the technical sophistry of their products, and how well engineereed they are, as I'm sure Tom understands quite well, with his Engineering background.

The sales drones, completely unable to fathom the engineering and well, frankly, geekiness, that goes into making all those things whiz, ding, and pop... resign themselves to the bullet pointed list of features that they just KNOW the client will want. (probably decided in some ivory tower meeting, rather than by conducting actual market research)

In the end, from both parties, the client is left wanting -- wanting to know What's In It For Me?

I hear that this CEO's a great big geek -- and I have to put the pieces together... and? So he's a geek, what's in it for me? Why do I care whether he hacks together open source operating system code on the weekend? Or does his being a geek simply mean that he holes up in in exclusive luxury condo on the beach... playing Dungeons and Dragons with local college kids?

That pithy statement that's supposed to tell me so much about the company -- tells me nothing. Except that their software is probably so gold-plated and over-engineered that it doesn't do what I want, and instead is robust and scalable to degrees I would probably never care to imagine.

Posted by Daiv Russell, Marketing Strategist at January 18, 2005 10:18 AM

...a bigger geek than their CEO? Whose CEO?
I don't get it. Maybe Logix is trying to differentiate itself from some competitor, but the point of reference is missing.
Looks like this ad is to reinforce the brand in the customer's mind, but if I don't know the brand beforehand then there's nothing to reinforce.

Posted by Gabriel Salcido at January 18, 2005 10:47 AM

Sounds like the perfect animal shelter billboard. Simple message that gets traffic in the door. One message. Clear. With the emotional hook of a cute cat photo. (And I say that as a dyed-in-the-wool dog guy.)

Posted by Sam at January 18, 2005 11:17 AM

I'd agree that the ad tells you nothing real about the products or the company, but it did stick with me enough to remember the company name.
Billboards don't tend to give you much information anyway and I'd say they are primarily of benefit in areas of impulse purchases, films, TV shows, promoting (already well-known) competing brand names and subsequently branding that name into your ad-full brain.
B2B advertising on billboards or TV has never really made much sense to me. Guess I've always hoped/thought that people in business who have marketing departments of their own have more sense than to believe the equivalents from someone else's department... but we're all human, eh?

But I know nothing about the world of advertising, so I'll bow to any superior knowledge on the subject :-)

Posted by Gary at January 18, 2005 12:36 PM

Why do I have this urge to buy the next billboard and put up, "Yeah, but our CEO can kick your CEO's *SS!"?

Gary, I agree that billboards don't make much sense in b2b. I'd love to talk to the marketing genius that thought this one up and ask him who is the target.

Customers?
Then why don't we know what you sell?

Stock holders?
Then where's your stock symbol?

Someone else?
Why?

Posted by Dustin at January 18, 2005 1:20 PM

samples for viagra I agree with Steve's reaction. Basically, Logix is telling you that you won't like the CEO (unless you are increadibly fond of "geeks"). And I don't believe that just because the guy is a geek, the company is somehow blessed or better off. If anything, that idea works against them.

Posted by Caroline at January 18, 2005 1:53 PM

The two ends of the empathetic bond continuim. MEOW!

Posted by Wendy at January 18, 2005 8:21 PM

Comedy in ads doesn't sell.

WIIFM?

Posted by Erick Blackwelder at January 18, 2005 11:08 PM

What I don't like about this ad is that it perpetuates the myth that the quality of the product and/or services is defined by how people perceive the CEO. It's important that people in the business in some way "embody" the brand values but this strikes me as putting the cart before the horse. Whether you think geekiness is good or bad, it seems to say, "You'll admire the CEO and therefore the products will be great." I couldn't care less whether the CEO is a geek or numbers-jockey or whatever else: do you have a funky product that answers my need? I also think it's counter-productive in the sense that it annoys me they think I might buy the goods simply because the CEO is a geek.. get outta here!

Posted by Mark JF at January 19, 2005 4:13 AM

I've thought more about it. This just doesn't make sense as a message to the end user. No mention of product or service, focus on the CEO who they could probably care less about, no call to action. Could this be an appeal to shareholders, stockholders, and Wall Street in general? If so, I don't understand why a billboard was the chosen medium.

Anyone seen this campaign in other media?

Posted by Dustin at January 19, 2005 12:17 PM