Conference 7.286::digital

    re -1
    Neat and clever idea. 
    
    However, we need to be verrrry careful. INTEL is inside all of today's
    PC's from Digital. And will probably be inside of 75% of the PC's we
    sell in FY94. And we will make money when we sell those Intel based
    pc's.
    
    If you remember the very insightful article in the Boston Globe several
    months back about what happened to IBM (most of which applied to
    Digital), it noted that IBM thought it was in one relatively
    homogenous business, and made business decisions which sub-optimized
    one business to benefit another. What IBM is now doing, and Digital, is
    recognizing that we are in multiple computer businesses which must be
    self-sustaining and profitable.
    
    We are not selling PC's to sell Alpha's. We are selling PC's to make
    money.
    
    And Alpha should be good enough that customers WANT 'Alpha inside'. We
    want to make, sell, and service better PC's than Dell, Compaq, and IBM.
    They are the competition in the PC business.
    
    And, when viewing Dell, Compaq, and IBM as customers (for Alpha), then
    we want to roll out the semi and show how Alpha blows the doors off of
    Pentium.
    
    This has become an incestuous business. My competitor is my supplier is
    my customer. Depends on which computer business we're dealing in at the
    moment. 
    and attempted to have 

My reaction to the ad in .0 would be: Well, that's nice, but what business
problem can I solve with an Alpha (Ferrari)?  (Other than attract women, I
suppose? :-))  Being fast is not in and of itself a virtue, if you can't
USE that speed for something useful.  A Ferrari isn't good for much except
showing everyone how fat a wallet you have.

A better sort of idea would be to show two people at competing companies,
each trying to get their PC to solve some complicated financial model for
a big presentation to the same customer.  The woman with the Alpha finishes
in a jiffy, makes it to the customer in plenty of time, and is just shaking
hands on the deal when the Intel user rushes in brandishing his report,
jaw dropping when he sees he's too late.  THIS is the sort of competitive
advantage that means something REAL to our customers.

					Steve

    
    I'd suggest Digital get involved with a Winston Cup Stock Car team.
    This form of motorsports races all over the country 30 (next year
    they add Indy to make 31) times a year.  Each race lasts 3-5
    hours.  All races are covered by a major television station, and
    so far this year, races were televised live in England and Russia.
    This type of racing is catching on down in Australia.
    
    The amount of people that view, either live or on tv Winston Cup
    racing is in the hundreds of millions.  Goodyear tracks the
    attendance to all forms of motorsports and Winston Cup beats
    IMSA, F1, CART (with digitals tiny decal on bobby rahals car, and
    he couldn't make the indy 500), SCCA...  
    
    This form of motorsport is exploding.  McDonalds just bought into
    one of Junior Johnsons cars, and has other various promotions
    centered around winston cup racing.  At the end of this season,
    there will be several teams who will be sponsorless, one of which
    happened to be the deceased 1992 Winston Cup Champion's team.
    
    The ROI would support Digital getting into this form of racing.
    To run a 30 SECOND add in the 1994 superbowl will cost $900,000.
    Yes, almost 1 MILLION dollars for 30 SECONDS.  Let's run that
    add for 1.5 minutes and we just spend $2.7 million.  For
    $2 Million (to get a good team, you can get average with around 1
    million) you can "own" a car for the whole year which runs from
    February to November.  For that sum of money, the team will make
    the car look however we want it and most likely will have at least
    1 show car.  Digital dictates where the showcar goes all year, 
    wether it's to boost moral in ZKO (for Louden, like last week could
    have been) or to park it in front of our customers business to
    turn them on.  Imagine getting 100 choice seats to every race
    to pass out to clients, or to use as a promotional gimmick for
    outstanding employees.  Or have a select employee be an honorary
    member of the pit crew (stand back and watch kid).  Imagine
    (wow, "imagine", where have I heard that word before) Bob
    Palmer throwing the green flag to start a race, not necessarily
    at Daytona, but usually that only happens for the company that
    sponsors a race.
    
    Imagine seeing the digital car, promoted correctly with our
    desired image, leading a race (who cares that all the leaders
    pitted, DIGITALS ON TV for 2 minutes).
    
    This would work especially well if we try to sell our commodity
    products through "channels", since Winston Cup fans are known
    for *fierce* brand loyalty.  In otherwords, if you walked into
    Computer Land and saw a compac 486 and a DECpc 486, you'd buy
    our PC because you know we had a car at Louden last Sunday.
    
    Maybe I rambled on to much, and maybe I didn't use the data that
    NASCAR provides to prospective entities thinking about getting
    involved in the form of racing, but I'll try to summarize the benefits.
    
    * Massive viewership which can improve our recognition
    * Increase brand loyalty
    * Economical form of marketing/advertising
    * Digital can dictate how it wants to market the car
    * Improved employee moral.  That thing is OURS, and it's kicking butt!
    * Focus other efforts around the car, and use the car or the other
      programs to help get our mission statement out.
    * Become better known to the average person, not just the fortune 500.
      Besides there are A LOT of fortune 500 companies that use Winston
      Cup as a marketing tool.
    * Make really cool commercials, like showing the Alpha Pontiac
      with the hood up.  Under the hood is the alpha chip.
    * Broader reach in the general media.  We'll be on the nightly news,
      the daily paper, as well as Digital News & Review and PC Week.  Even
      if our car is 5 laps down, if he's getting lapped by Earnhardt,
      we're still in the photo.
    * The exposure last for a year, or more if we continue.
    
    Those are just a few of the benefits I can see.  The rest is up
    to the marketing folks.
    
    Regards,
    
    Mike   

    Re .-1
    
    If the ad on the car has that much impact what happens when/if it:
    
    	a) Crashes
    	b) the driver gets killed or severely injured
    	c) It never wins any races
    
    None of which Digital can control.
    
    Dave

    re: .-1  (Dave?)
    
    >a) Crashes
    When you wreck, you get on TV.  However, that isn't the recommended
    way to get air time.  It's part of racing though.
    
    >b) the driver gets killed or severely injured
    The last driver to loose his life in Winston Cup Competition was J.D. 
    McDuffie. The quality of his equipment may have had something to do with
    the lack of surviability of his wreck.  Severe injuries aren't
    as common as they used to be.  Look at the last 6 violent wrecks,
    the drivers are all still alive and in only one instance were the
    injuries considered life threatening.
    
    >c) It never wins any races.
    Well, if we spend the "right" amount of money, or buy into a "good"
    team, the chance we'll win will be increased.  There are teams
    that race everyweek that have a remote or little chance of winning.
    These guys are running for their sponsors exposure.  This hasn't
    discouraged Maxwell House, McDonalds, Pennzoil, Dupont, Purex,
    Country Time...  Winning is nice, but the exposure is the key.
    If you don't show up, you're not getting any exposure.
    
    If you get TBS, why don't you tune in tomorrow at 1:00pm and see
    what I'm talking about.
    
    Mike

    Oops, I left this out.
    
    > What about the potential negative messages/images.
    
    Negative images usually come about from the driver.  That is why
    "controlling" the team is so important.  That way we have a say
    in who's driving the car.  How much control does Digital have
    in the say of the "Miller Genuine Draft" indy car (little or none)
    they have a decal on.  You know, the one that couldn't get into
    the Indy 500.
    
    There are some people who refuse to use Kodak film because they
    think Ernie Irvan is a bone-head.  But that is _still_ exposure.
    FWIW: All our cloths are washed with Tide (Ricky Rudd).  I drive
    Chevies, I drink Mellow Yellow (Kyle Petty), I use Texaco gas
    (Davey Allison).  Sounds like an effective way to obtain "product
    recognition".  And I'm not the only person who thinks this way.
    I say person purposely, because 55% of the viewers who follow
    Winston Cup, or patronize sponsors products are females.
    
    Mike

    Some years back, 84-ish, I was part of a team, that on a volunteer
    basis. Wrote a Motor racing lap-scoring/time keeping system. We didn't
    know, but our marketing people had been working with the TV network
    that had the exclusive rights to that series of races.  The TV station
    much preferred access to the timely computer data (they were a DEC
    site, and had been considering such an effort themselves).
    
    We took 5 pro-350's and assorted networking bits on site, total cost to
    us, was in the order of $5K, mainly signage, and accomodation, as the
    machines were all loaners off our own desks... The air time we got
    every time the scores came up was estimated at 750K. 
    
    Now, one of the drivers, had offered us the right to have our logo on
    his car, along with several others. He only wanted $300,000 for three
    years. We declined, and Wang took the offer. He was shunted in the
    starting grid, and that was the last you ever saw of the Wang logo...
    
    Sponsor the event, not an entrant, and you can't lose. (unless of
    course, you do as DEC did with the America's Cup Yacht race, where DEC
    Australia sponsored the Australian boat, and DEC U.S. sponsored the
    American Boat - Australia won, with fewer sponsorship dollars, too)
    
    q

    If Digital "bought into" a race team.... we'd probably insist on at
    least two vice presidents, four committees and a dozen Human Resource
    Managers.
    
    What race team would want our kind of management?
    
    tony

    re: .4 - Dave, for a Brit,I thought I'd see more sporting blood!
    Never-the-less, you are on to a point but the tree you want to bark at
    is over 1 to the right. The thing that comes to mind is a "softer" one.
    Do you recall the recent Indy 500 and the fact that (Ford I believe)
    had spent tons of $$$ in expectation of a win  - which never happened.
    The greater risk is a fizzle not a disaster, but that's the way high
    visibility, high potential advertising works. It IS VERY effective, as
    noted - even if your man fizzles. As noted - an effective team can can
    control fizzle to some extent by garanteeing high quality. There are
    several "sports noteables" & "noteable sports" that can bring greater
    visibility to Digital & THAT is what is needed - Visibility &
    credibility to our customers.

    The Formula 1 Ferraris used to carry Digital decals. They do not any
    more. I think Digital Italy was a major supplier to the team at the
    time. I wonder if it had any effect on sales?
    
    Edward

    
    RE: .2
    
    Nice one Steve, I like it!
    
    Laurie.

    
    I volunteer to be the driver.  Since I am a Digital employee, they
    can "control" the driver this way.
    
    Where should I report, and when do we start?
     

    I am not in Marketing but I would imagine that the advertisement would
    be valid if the ordinary Joe/Joan could go down to his/her local PC
    store and compare computers with "Intel Inside" versus "Digital Alpha 
    Inside".  Selling a product against another product assumes that a
    customer is shopping and comparing - go into your local PC shop - 
    currently do you see any Digital products sold or computers with 
    Digital components?   You see IBM PCs and HP printers/scanners - any
    Digital products?   
    
    Hopefully the silicon side of the house will start selling chips and
    actively compete with Intel in the PC arena.    Until there is a
    marketing channel to the PC stores out there about the only channel to
    sell "Digital Alpha Inside" would be over the phone (mail order).  I 
    don't know what volume of business is done over the phone versus walk 
    in PC store purchases but it seems that either we need to start selling the 
    Alpha CPUs to PC vendors or package the Alpha CPU in our own boxes and
    increase our  visibility in PC stores.
    
    Once either of the 2 (or both) of the realities come about I believe it
    is a waste of advertising dollars to push such an ad...
    
    				Chip 
    

    How about "Alpha Aboard."
    or..."Alpha on board."
    

    
    may i also suggest to use virtual reality in any of future ad. campaigns
    to maximize the effects on our prospective customers.

    \nasser

	Maybe the person to send this idea to is Enrico Pesatori. Auto
	racing and its advertising is big business in Europe so maybe
	he'd understand the validity of this idea.

						mike

    Maybe they will have three old lady's in the pit playing cards! And the 
    car never gets fueled.....  (this refering to the stupid, and I do mean
    stupid add in last weeks Digital Review.  Imagine if your mother were
    right)  God help us! 
    
    - Mike

    Re: .0 vs .2
    
    One element of TV advertising that should be considered, IMHO, is
    attention gathering quality.  Here at work, I'm in a mindset where
    watching .0 and then watching .2 would result in .2 having hinted more
    to ``solving my business problems''.  But at home, glancing at TV over
    the paper and toddler (8-)), .0 would have grabbed my attention more.
    
    I'm not sure you can expect TV advertising to move someone completely
    into a position where they want to seriously go Alpha ... but ... this
    whole ``what image does Digital conjure up'' stuff might be served by
    .0.  Basically, I'd see it as grabbing my attention and then dropping a
    pellet of information to roll around my head while walking by the acres
    of PC stores ... Digital is fast and Digital exists.  That might be
    enough (coupled with agressive sales force and/or print ads, reviews..)
    
    George
    

    
    Picture an old hand operated printing press and then a new, state of
    the art printing machine.  Then a picture of the old pong video game
    then to a Genesis video game.  An abacus, then a watch calculator.  A
    picture of their machine, then a picture of our ALPHA machine.  
    
    
    
    
    		"Digital has tomorrows computing NOW!!!!"
    
    
    Digital has it now was the last message that really got out, let's
    modernize it and put it to good use.  And furthermore, let's back 
    it up.
    
    
    Mike 

    re: .10
    Formula 1 racing is extremely expensive.  I think the annual budget
    for the top teams are around $50 Million.  Due to this, most of the
    teams are backed by manufacturers.  There is _no way_ and/or very
    little return for digital to fork out the bucks to justify sponsoring
    an F1 team nowdays.  As an example, Ayrton Senna (sp?) got $800,000
    for having a small decal _on his helmet_ only.  Forget it.  Also,
    viewership is less than Winston Cup.  Digital probably tossed Ferrari
    some hardware and they were obligated to slap some tiny decals on
    the car.  Cart (Indy stuff <yawn>) costs roughtly $13 Million a year.
    
    Part of the appeal to Winston Cup, is the cars look like what's in
    the parking lot outside.  I can go down to Pontiac today and buy
    a Grand Prix.  This appeals to "the little guy".  The little guy
    like the MIS director, or a system manager, or VP of a small business. 
    If our audience is the "ta-ta" champaigne and caviar type, Cart (where
    we are now) and/or F1 is the place to be.  If you want to appeal to 
    the masses, Winston Cup is where we should be.
    
    I know of 1 good driver who may be sitting on his butt next year,
    along with a "good" team (a Ford one thought- blech) who'll be
    sponsorless.  Don't know how long either of these conditions will
    remain that way though.  Maybe we can put the 2 together and go 
    racing, I mean Advertising.  See you in Talladega next weekend.
    
    Mike 

Re: .17

You may think that StorageWorks ad (not "add"!) is "stupid", but I think
it's marvelous!  It's irreverent, offbeat and attention catching, and that's
what you want an ad to be.  The StorageWorks folks are embarking on their
own marketing campaign, intending, as best as I can see, to go beyond
Digital's traditional markets and advertising concepts.  This is appropriate
given that their products are aimed at a wider audience than Digital
customers.

At last month's DECUS Trade Show, the StorageWorks folks had a big display
set up in the center of the exhibit area and had a juggling act to attract
people to the booth.  The booth itself was well-designed, and all of the
staffers had coordinated clothing (including suspenders!) in the StorageWorks
colors (purple, teal, orange, some mix like that).  I heard that an attendee
walked up to one of the staffers and had this exchange:

	Attendee:  "What kind of third-party are you that Digital lets
	            you use their logo so prominently?"
	Staffer:   "We *ARE* Digital!"
	Attendee:  "No you're not!  Digital wouldn't have a booth like this!"

They've got killer products and great marketing ideas - I hope that they
are given the freedom to make their products a success.

					Steve

    Sorry about the Add, but hey time is money, and lately I don't have
    much of  both.  If you want our products to be associated with old
    Lady's Playing cards thats your business but I and a few other Digital 
    employees in my office think it dumb! Hey 4 out 5 DEC (Digital) employees
    can't be wrong :-).
    
    Also as a side note my mother did'nt know what we were selling either.  
    
    As far as attention getting, I'm sure a juggling act at a trade show is
    a great gimmick.  Try to put a juggling act in a magazine..  However,
    it might just go over well, our disks are so fast we can do 5 things at
    once.
    
    - Mike

    
    
    A common thread I see here is that we are adverting at DECUS, in
    Digital Review, DECthis, Digital that.  Where are our new customers 
    supposed to see who we are?
    
    
    
    Mike

    How will they purchase Digital Alpha - in a Digital labeled box or some 
    other vendors box that has Alpha Inside?     Go down to your local PC 
    store - can you buy Digital boxes down at your local PC store?   It seems 
    to me that in the case where we will be selling Digital boxes with Alpha
    inside we have a series problem with availability in outlets.   Will we
    conquire market share thru phone sales?   

	Re. the poker ad.

	I would agree with Steve that the ad was funny and attention grabbing.

	To me the formula 1 racing and the "tomorrow's computing now" ideas are 
	rather staid and unimaginative, as if created by a mediocre ad agency.
	As it is, Digital has an image of being a staid company. We need to 
	destroy that image. 

	Kudos to the StorageWorks group for being creative!

    FWIW, I've seen a large print ad for Digital's Unified UNIX(tm)
    strategy, essentially:
    
    	Their UNIX:
    
    		<Picture of a Model-T>
    
    	Our UNIX:
    
    		<(?)Ferrari or a race car or something on those lines(?)>
    
    	<I can't remember the imagine tag...>
    
    Plus verbage on the right hand border espoucing on our embracing more
    standards than you can shake a stick at and, thus, have both system V
    and BSD(variants) covered.
    
    So for car analogies we've ``done it''.
    
    George
    

re: .24

LiveWire, in the US news section, indicates that we've reached an
agreement with MicroAge (distributor, business, and retail outlets)
for them to carry our entire line of Intel based PC's, with talks
continuing on Alpha PC's.  They may not be the biggest computer
retailer chain, but it's a start.

   Gary

re: .12 
>    I volunteer to be the driver.  Since I am a Digital employee, they
>    can "control" the driver this way.
>    
>    Where should I report, and when do we start?

Shotgun.

    I was thinking, there are many things that we "could" concentrate on
    with the Alpha PC's, to me though obvious one is speed.
    
    So to go with that idea.
    
    Imagine what it would be like to be a super fast human.
    
    Other people would perceive you as fast. You would perceive others as 
    very slow.
    
    Now picture an ad - probably have to be a tv ad. 
    
    There is a flash, and a person starts to notice everyone around him is
    slowing down, he sees something spill and it moves slowly to the
    ground. Looking around you see 3 pc's, 2 486's
    and an ALPHA pc. The 486's are working - slowly - but the alpha is 
    humming right along, like it wasn't even effected.
    
    The key to advertising is to do something the customer remembers, and 
    associated with your product.
    
    well it is just a thought ...
    
    mike

    I like it...  & I don't think it'll be just me...
    
    Dan
    

Great idea.

Dave

    
    I like the idea too.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Mark.
    
    PS. So, how can it made into reality?

    RE .3
    Good note...
    
    I've been suggesting Winston Cup involvement for years!
    
    I went to The "Coca-Cola 600" at Charlotte last year, with two
    customers, who have buy/sell/trade power over lots of computer related
    stuff. They drive Fords, because Bill Elliot does.
    
    Even better, my wife, ever a General Motors fan, just picked up her
    '92 Thunderbird. Why? Mark Martin drives one. (and it IS a nice car.)
     I had her pick up a case of oil the last time she went to store, 
    she came back with Valvoline. Why? Mark Martin's T-Bird is sponsered 
    mainly by Valvoline. We also drink Folgers, even though they no longer 
    sponser him. Fierce brand loyalty is an UNDERSTATEMENT!
    
    We should NOT get all high and mighty and shrug off such a massive
    market. Sponser a team AND a race. The "Digital Equipment 500" at
    Louden is a natural.
    
    .mike.
    

    Mike, I agree on the 500 race in Louden. We'd never sponsor it
    though. Considering we dropped the Digital Seniors Classic
    just last year. The first year that it received TV coverage.
    Now it is sponsored by another company and they will receive the
    TV coverage. Oh well. Someday I hope to see some ads on TV other
    than the brief sponsorship type on PBS.
    
    Jim C.
    

    iam afraid some is missing what sport we should associate the DEC name
    with by a big mile.

    we should get involved in chess advertisements, yes chess! not racing and
    volley ball and cricket and all that, because when we sponsor chess
    with the DEC name, people starts associating DEC with smarts, thinking,
    slow maneuvering, wisdom, skills, long terms strategy planing , taking
    your time befor making a move nilly willy, and all the good things that 
    comes along from having the DEC name near a chess board.

    we keep doing the same thing over and over, obviously what we been
    doing so far is nothing but pouring brown sand in the rat hole and we 
    should try something new and exciting for crying out loud! 

    i think DEC should starts sponsoring chess tournaments all over the
    place, what image we give our young generations by having the DEC name
    on things like jumping up and down and going over the speed limit in 
    fast cars to count a few? 

    i hope these views help our marketing dept. better focus its effort if
    they are reading this.

    \bye
    \nasser

    
    Nasser,
    
    
    There is much more of everything you described regarding chess in
    NASCAR racing.
    
    
    
    Mike

    How about blending the 'speed' image with the 'chess' notion put
    forward by our esteemed colleague in .35?  A couple of CPUs playing
    chess with each other (use great ILM graphics, robot arms, closeups of
    RoboFingers & the chesspieces...) against a chess-clock.  One of the
    players is running SW on an Alpha-AXP, the other is running the *same*
    SW on a Pentium or whatever...  (How to indicate the sameness of the
    SW?  dunno) and everytime the Pentium considers & *finally* comes up
    with its move, the clock moves MUCH further along -- it CRAWLS! -- than
    when it's the Alpha AXP's turn...  that ol' Alpha AXP just burns up the
    track, figuring out its next move licketysplit & whipping out its slick
    RoboHand on the timing clock while the Pentium looks unhappy and
    "sweats" (we all *know* it runs hot...:-)  ...  
    
    (Perhaps the sameness of the SW can be illustrated by having the game
    turn out to be a draw, but with the Pentium having taken 4 (or
    whatever) times longer to get there...)? 
    
    Dan ( & \nasser )
    

     .37
    
    I like it!
    
    

        .37

    i like it too Dan! good job, me and you for sure like make a good team.

    now we need to pull some strings to get going on this idea, i'll
    be willing to dedicate my chess skills to the organization to
    set the game up and with your technical and managerial skills
    you do the rest, we might pull this one after all !

    also, how about if DEC invites the chess world champion to play a chess
    game on alpha , this alone will make millions of people see the DEC
    name and make alpha computers even more famous than they are now, we 
    have to pay him some money offcourse to do this, but i think it is worth 
    it.

    lets keep the ideas rolling ! 

    \nasser

    
    Hey!
    
    Why not get Ken Thompson to port "Belle" to Alpha OSF/1?
    
    You realize Ken developed "Belle" on a PDP-11 UNIX don't you?
    
    (Belle was world computer chess champion.  There is a funny story
     about how he couldn't take "her" to Russia because of export restrictions
     on PDP-11's years ago.)
    
    -Ed
    

    THe last few assumes that we can get a Chess Master beating Chess
    program running on an AXP...
    
    q
    

>                    <<< Note 2583.41 by TROPPO::QUODLING >>>
>
>    THe last few assumes that we can get a Chess Master beating Chess
>    program running on an AXP...
>    
>    q
    
				Just Imagine!

    I like Dan and \nasser's idea also.
    
    But, back to racing; I agree with the individual who mentioned it
    would probably be impossible for Digital to get involved in this
    day and age.  Sponsoring a "team" would be just too cost prohibitive.
    
    I watched the Michigan 500 Sunday; Scott Goodyear, Bobby Rahal &
    Nigel Mansell had cameras on-board their cars.  IBM got a few miles
    out that race....the camera in Goodyear's car was mounted somewhere
    behind his right shoulder.  I know the idea was to provide a clear
    view of the track (and proximity to the wall); however it was hard
    to miss that IBM[tm] on Goodyear's helmet as his head bobbed wildly 
    while the car went 200+ MPH down the straightaway :-)  Rahal's car
    had the camera mounted on the left side giving a clear view of his
    front wheel suspension in addition to the intended view....wasn't
    that IBM[tm] again on a bumper sticker type label on the suspension?
    Don't know if Big Blue was too happy though, as Rahal's car lost its
    boost and kept going slower and slower around the track :-}  Now a
    vision of a Digial Alpha AXP car streaking past Rahal might have
    looked good!!
    
    One of the announcers of Sunday's race mentioned that the top "team"
    sponsors had to budget 2 million + for *engines* alone; add in "inci-
    dentals"....need I say more?  Sunday's race was carried by ABC so
    it probably reached a wider audience in the states than Winston Cup
    would (didn't require cable to see the race). Winston Cup sponsor-
    ship might be a little less expensive than Indy type cars; but 
    definitely out of Digital's league under present circumstances.
    
    What the heck, it's great to dream though.  Personally, I would have
    loved to have seen a Penske Porsche with Digital on each side streaking
    along at Hockenheim on Saturday....and if we could say there was an
    alpha chip somewhere in the motor.....  Oh, did I mention that I would
    be more than happy to take early retirement to concentrate on becoming
    the first female Formula One champion? :-) :-)  OK, OK, if Mr. Palmer
    insists, I wouldn't mind if he drove the #1 car and I drove back-up
    :-)  Remember folks, we ARE an international company!!
    
    K
    

FWIW, on the cover of either June or July's issue of DESIGN NEWS was a photo
of Rahal and his Indy Car and sure enough, the DIGITAL logo was on the front
of the car.  Don't remember the color of the logo tho....and I think it was
missing the TM.  ;-)

Judy

    re: .-1                    
    Judy the decal is black, it doesn't intrude with Millers Black &
    Gold color scheme.   At 200 miles an hour, it's real easy to
    see "MILLER", you can only see "digital" when the car is standing
    still.
    
    re: .-2
    *THAT*, is what I was mentioning in .3.  CART (and the
    Rahal car mentioned above) is *NOT* the place to try and show off.
    Sure, keep the sticker on Rahals car, but if you really want 
    EXPOSURE we need to go with Winston Cup.  Let's be generous, give
    the team $3.5 million dollars.  That type of money would make Dale 
    Earnhardt or Bill Elliotts eyes open.  In reality we could get in with a 
    good team for ~$2 million.
    
    CART is too full of snotty ($$$) drivers who'd rather talk trash about
    formula 1 ($$$$$$$$$$$) and vice verca.  Meanwhile they're imploding due 
    to cost, lack of competition and disarray.  Winston Cup is expanding 
    (exploding).  Witness the CART drivers whining about NASCAR coming to 
    Indy.  "Hey, this is our place."  Ya, well move over folks, the big boys 
    are coming to town.  Just tell Al Unser Jr. to race his car or stay
    out of the way, otherwise he'll get stuffed into the fence again, like
    at Daytona.  FWIW: The race in 1994 will be called "The Brickyard 500".  
    It won't stay that way for ever.  Maybe in 1995 it'll be called "The IBM 
    500".
    
    Mike

    RE: .-1
    The Winston Cup Indy race will be the "Brickyard 400", not 500.
    
    .mike.
    
    (and for 2 - 3.5 million bucks a YEAR, you could be a major player,
    BIG-TIME, but it makes sense, so I doubt we ever see it done right.)