Conference 7.286::digital

    I'ld rather have my 20% salary cut rescinded....

    
    Okay, SKIP the last line. FORGET the 2% comment. 
    
    What about the rest???
    
    	Imagine what a statement this would make about Digital employees'
    	viewpoint on the importance of marketing!
    
    	Imagine what a rallying point for morale we could have if Digital
    	employees participated in a contest to design/envision the first
    	series of Digital TV ads.
    
    	Imagine what kind of customer-focus we could achieve if we involved
    	the entire company in advertising.
    
    Even if the final ads were sanitized and scrubbed by an ad agency,
    scrutinized by marketing experts, the potential for creating something
    POSITIVE within the company is tremendous. Not to mention the revenue-
    generating potential. 
    
    Does Digital have it now? Not when it comes to ad space and airwaves.
    Yes, TV advertising is a SERIOUSLY COSTLY investment. But, I honestly
    believe that if we position ourselves to respond promptly and
    positively to it, we could come a lot closer to making "Digital" a
    recognized name (and making that "brand" investment pay off!) if we
    put that name on the boob-tube.

    Until we change our name to something other than a generic adjective,
    we will never enjoy widespread name recognition.

    Digital? Digital what?

    Paul

    I agree.  A single ad during a major sporting event telecast probably
    would have more impact on a wide range of "senior corporate executives"
    than our usual tiger, rafting, and diving pictorial ads in magazines
    and newspapers.  I've often wondered why we don't do it.  When one of
    our competitors puts on a flashy commercial during a telecast typically
    watched by perhaps 20 million households, I sure pay attention!
    
    But I'm not a marketing/advertising expert, and maybe studies have
    proven that TV ads do not result in more revenue?
    
    Does anyone know if Digital has done such analysis?

    
    Does anybody remember that Digital DID advertise on TV a couple or
    three years ago?  I remember my wife calling me into the livingroom to
    see a DEC ad during a college football game.  I think it was during the
    "Open Advantage" campaign.
    
    I thought to myself.."alright, finally Digital is going to stop relying
    wholly on it's technology to sell itself."  I know we build great
    products, but if you've never heard of Digital and you don't have a 
    Digital salesman beating down your door,  how is the average Joe or
    smaller business guy going to know?  Do we still just sell to Fortune
    500 companies and shun everybody else?
    
    Especially since we are getting so heavy into PCs... it's even rumored
    that the PC part of DEC will be it's own division...shouldn't we be
    attacking the everyday consumer?  I thought that we wanted to be
    competitive?  I feel that the video arena is a gret place to show your
    muscle.
    
    Sorry for the long winded note, but I'm tired of telling everybody who
    asks where I work that we are one of the largest computer companies in
    the world.  The answer I hear 95% of the time is..."you never see them
    on TV.  Are you sure Digitals that big?"
    

    
    
    Did a double take on the tv the other day.
    
    It was an ad for "Newton' or the like, but I wasn't looking and they
    mentioned the word digital. I really thought is was Digital they were
    talking about. 
    
    I'm still waiting for our pc's to show up at the huge chain stores out
    here in California like, Circuit City, Silo, Good Guys etc etc. 
    
    My 14 year old son is so worried I might run out an by a Digital pc,
    rather than one of the brands his friends own. The ones he knows have 
    "Intel Inside" or the like. He knows cause their on  the tv or in the
    papers.
    
    Most of the comments I get about our company are negative due to all the 
    layoffs. People read papers and thats what they see and hear all the
    time.
    
    oh well. We were not well known in 1984 when I started in California,
    we still have a problem in 1993. 
    
                                     

    OK. I hear we are suppose to compete with the POWER PC chip from Moto.
    OK. Sure we are faster with higher Spec marks and PCI this and that.
    
    But what do the majority of the people understand??  
    
    The Power PC microprocessor commercial has got a great ad campaign 
    starting.  
    
        "Use a PC based on their microprocessor and what do you get..
    
         .... A LIFE "   
    
    
      I ask you, who  can't uderstand that message.  Soon consumers all 
    over will be walking in to there local P.C. stores asking for the 
    PC with the chip that gets them a life.  
    
    Now they want Intel inside.  Don't tell them it is a Cyrix or AMD chip,
    they dont want it.  They don't know why for the most part, but consumers
    are convinced that to run Quicken and play play KQ6 you need to have 
    that Intel chip inside.
    
    Once people start asking for PC's with the ALPHA chip inside companies
    will start suppling them.  I am convinced you need to market from both
    ends of the equation.   Market the manufactures and get the buyers of
    finsihed goods to demand it from the suppliers.
    
    Of course I could have it all wrong here.  I am not sure if Digital is
    after the consumer market.  They may be interested only in the high end
    industrial market.  Lets face it the low end P.C. business is
    probably only a 10-20 billion dollar market 
    
    
      
    
    
    

    As soon as someone decided that we would back away from DEC and
    insist on Digital we backed ourselves right into a corner.....
    
    When is the last time you saw an ad with International Business
    Machines in the body or in the picture?  You see IBM[tm].
    
    

    TV... 
    
    there's no reason to advertize Digital Products on TV...
    
    If we build it they will come *not*
    
    
    from the OLD marketing notes file (last year)
    
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2052.0                  ALPHA TV SPOT #1 *not*                    8 replies
DPDMAI::WISNIEWSKI "ADEPT of the Virtual Space."     40 lines  25-NOV-1992 16:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Commercial #1


    Thirty second spots on CNN, NBC, and Sixty Minutes
              
    Open quickly on upper middle class living room circa 2004-2010
    Father and daughter are sitting comfortably reading flat pannel
    books and generally enjoying a quiet afternoon.

    "Daddy?" the little girl asks "It say's here that in the last
    century computer needed keyboards for input.  What's a Keyboard?"

    Father smiling "Well before computers were powerful enough to
    understand it when we talked to them, people had to send
    individual letters into the computer to instruct it."

    Little girl incredulous, "Daddy, did you every have to use
    a keyboard?"

    Father little embarassed "Eh yes,  Would you like to see 
    one?"

    Little girl excited "Oh Yes!"

    Father announcing to to the middle of the room "Computer, please 
    show us an old style PC from about 1993"

    In the middle of the room a holographic image of a PC hovers and 
    a soft female voice begins to identify parts of the PC.  Voice
    fades out and focus softens as a Digital logo focuses sharply
    in the lower right hand corner.  Voice over (same voice as female
    computer voice)
   
    Digital Equipment introduces Alpha AXP

    Computing for today and the next 25 years

    Because 64bit computing power is required for the next generation.
                                                               
    
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2053.0                  ALPHA TV SPOT #2 *not*                    3 replies
DPDMAI::WISNIEWSKI "ADEPT of the Virtual Space."     42 lines  25-NOV-1992 16:27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMERCIAL #2


Camera's viewpoint walking though a hotel lobby examining 
    the designs and layout of the front counter etc.
    
    
    
Man 1 "This unit will hold 275 tourists with all the amenities"

Man 2 "It's just what we need, but can we do the lobby in the 
       that neo-classical look?  I liked it much better"

Man 1 "Certainly, Computer can you show us the neo-classical again?" 

Scean disolves into another hotel lobby with neo-classical features.

Man 2 "Yes, I like this much better." and checking his watch "Oh,
      I have to run I'm taking my wife to lunch"

Man 1 "Ok, I'll mail you the final specifications and walk thoughs"

Man 2 "Thanks! Gotta go"

Sceane switches to Man2 in office taking off wireless helmet with
goggles, earphones and mike in front of a workstation. Man 1 is 
displayed in one of the workstation windows taking off similar 
helmet.

Man 2 "Thanks again Mike The model looks just fine and we should 
       be ready to break ground next month.  I'll call you tomorrow."

Man 1 from window "See you Dan, give my best to Mary."

Man 1's window blips off and sceane soft focuses as DIGITAL logo
focuses in the lower right hand corner.

Voice over says:

Digital Equipment introduces Alpha AXP 64 bit computing.

Because in the future, 32 bits won't be enough.
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2054.0                  ALPHA TV SPOT #3 *not*                    3 replies
DPDMAI::WISNIEWSKI "ADEPT of the Virtual Space."     41 lines  25-NOV-1992 16:31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMERCIAL #3


Open on a family on vaction/out camping.  Smiling laughing,
and starting a campfire.  Phone rings and the wife answers 
the a cellular phone while the rest of the family enjoys
camping in her backgroud.

Woman "Hello"

Voice "Sorry to bother you Elain, but datacenter 3 has been
       flooded by a broken sprinkler and the disk servers have
       shut down."

Elain "Great, just great.  Are the redundant servers at datacenter
       4 online?"

Voice "Yes Elain, we are currently still available on the redundant
       servers.  Field service has been called, building maintenance
       is notified of the problem and estimated time to repair is 
       18 hours."

Elain "Anything you need from me?"

Voice "No, I just thought you'd need to know about the failure."

Elain "Thanks if I need to do anything call back."

Elain turning back to her family, her husband asks:

     "Who was that?

Elain "Just my Polycenter system management station telling me about a problem
       it's working"

Smiling Elain disolves into a VAXcluster Console screen, Digital logo 
fills lower right and voice over says

Digital Equipment Announces Alpha AXP
64 bit computing Power 
Because in the Future 32 bits will not be enough.
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2055.0                  ALPHA TV SPOT #4 *not*                   49 replies
DPDMAI::WISNIEWSKI "ADEPT of the Virtual Space."     43 lines  25-NOV-1992 16:35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    COMMERCIAL #4    
    
    Engineering Department circa 1961. Engineers working on drafting
    boards, at a sodering bench, the usual 1960's orange/white color
    scheme.
    
    
    Voice over
    
    In 1961 Digital Equipment Corporation introduced the concept of the 
    personal computer to scientists and engineers.
    
    (Show group gathering around a PDP-1 with the round "MARS Needs Women"
     tube with Joystick.)
    
    It was expensive, large, and primitive by todays standards but it 
    represented the best technology at the best price of the period.
    
    (Disolve to 1992 user desk with an alpha workstation, with some 
     sexy 3-D business model animated on screen)
    
    Today's Digital's 64 Bit PCs run all of the industry's major (major
    being defined like Major Credit Card -- the ones we support) operating
    systems, contain the world's fastest microprocessors, and adhear
    to more industry standards than any other computer system on 
    the market.
        
    (Disolve back 1960s folks examining an Alpha workstation next to the
    PDP-1.)
    
    Sign on the wall in the background `Any sufficiently advanced 
     technology is indistinguishable from magic.'
    
    The new Alpha AXP workstations cost only 5% of the cost of that original
    Personal Computer -- with over 10,000 times it's performance.
    
    
    Digital Equipment introduces ALPHA AXP
    
    64 Bit computing for the next thirty years and the next 10,000 
    fold increase in computer power...
    
    Because in the future 32 Bits will not be enough...
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2055.29                 ALPHA TV SPOT #4 *not*                     29 of 49
FLASH3::GULLOTTI                                     54 lines   4-DEC-1992 15:02
                        -< There is Alpha Advertising
 >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was just referred to this discussion in the file. I am the Alpha Advertising
Manager for Workstations and Servers and sit on the Alpha Advertising Task Force.
And, although a bit late, I want you all to know that a print campaign will be
hitting the street beginning Monday. Below is the current media schedule for 
this ad.

There is a lot of work being done on Alpha advertising, but unfortunately it's
invisible to most people in the company. Of course it would be invisible until 
the ad starts running. I could write you a book on why the ad isn't out yet but
it doesn't really matter. What matters is that there WILL be advertising. I 
think that in a year from now, we won't be seeing notes that show employees
are wondering what marketing is doing. I think that you'll see a lot of 
different kinds of advertising in the next year or two and more creative uses 
of the advertising funds.

Here's what we have for print media for the next few months. Don't think of this
as a final schedule. It's only the beginning. The plan calls for broadening the media into key vertical market magazines, channels publications
and running this ad and/or others for the next few years and supplementing
print ads with other types of media.

Digital News and Review         12/7
                                12/21
                                1/4
                                1/18
                                2/1

Computerworld                   12/7
                                12/14
                                12/28
                                1/18
                                2/1

Information Week                12/7
                                12/21
                                1/4
                                1/18
                                2/1

Open Systems Today              1/4
                                1/18
                                2/1

Datamation                      12/15
                                1/1
                                1/15
                                2/1

CIO                             January (inside front cover)

Washington Technology           12/3
Government Computer News        12/21
Federal Computer Week           12/7
Government Executive            January
                                                                           
             <<< ASIMOV::USER$3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]MARKETING.NOTE;5 >>>
                   -< Marketing - Digital Internal Use Only >-
================================================================================
Note 2070.0                  Alpha TV Spot #5 *NOT*                      1 reply
DPDMAI::WISNIEWSKI "ADEPT of the Virtual Space."     58 lines  18-DEC-1992 14:21
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMERCIAL #5


Voice Over:
Sound effects of blasts, bombs, guns, squeeling tires.. 
    
Action! Power! Color! Graphics! Games! CDroms! 32-bit SuperPower! 
32-bit Action  

  Rapidly changing backgrounds showing video games, interactive video,
  power shots of sega and super-nintendo like video games, color spashes
  of graphics and arcade action.


Voices and music end abrubtly.

We pull out from a single window that contained the video-game commerical
on an Alpha AXP with another window containing an rotating 3-D Xray image. 

Minor/Stuttered pause and pull out to show the the Alpha AXP being examined 
by several Doctors.  

Minor Pause and the window pulls out to another Alpha AXP workstation
with the Doctors in one window and an Air-Traffic control Patterns in 
another window.  

Minor Pause and pull out to scene with air traffic controllers
in air tower examining the Alpha AXP with the Doctors and the Air-Traffic.

Minor Pause and this becomes a window with full business graphics and the
ATC window.

Minor Pause and the window pulls out onto a business meeting of excutives
talking.

Minor Pause and this window pulls back to a final Alpha AXP with the 
business excutive's window playing as a live video with a spread sheet
window next to it.

Pull out from the Alpha AXP to a warm Family DEN/Living Room with 
children on the floor obviously playing a video game with their father 
leaning back regarding the business video and spreadsheet.

Final pull out and an Alpha AXP in a neutral background with ALL the 
video images we've just seen in individual windows running and active.

Digital LOGO dissoves in overlayed over the Alpha AXP and 
a Voice Over Says:



Digital introduces 64-bit computing for the 21st century

  Because in the future 32-bit computing power will almost
      be able to run the next generation of children's games.
    
    In the future all computing will be 64-bits.  Digital has
    64-bit computing today.
    

It's vitally important to Digital to make sure that EVERY person connected
with information technology buying decisions has been exposed to the company's
Alpha story and knows that we are in this business and that we think we are
very good at it! TV is a very efficient medium to get 100% coverage.
We should use this medium extensively. It's incredible that a $14 billion
company is willing to settle for such a low public profile.

For god sake, even Siemens is advertising on TV to build brand recognition,
and they serve far more specialized markets than we do.

Although 80% of the people who would see our TV ads are not potential customers,
it's still a highly effective way to reach the other 20%.
 
--RS

    
    I watched all five hours of Dances with Wolves and saw about 3 
    IBM commercials during each section, I kept wishing we would have
    at least one in there at least but no show.
    
    Adele
    

RE: .0

You are not alone.

Not having television presence is a *glaring* inconsistency in 
Digital's strategy to benchmark itself against "best in
class" competitors.

RE:  .7

If your 14 year old son can influence you as a result of 
the advertising which he has been exposed to... "imagine" ;)
the pressure our "target audience" will get from inside
a company if they don't at least look at the PowerPC.

 

    The topic if this note is rather like asking the tail to wag the dog,
    isn't it?

    Why not have CUSTOMERS send email, via internet to the SLT asking why
    we don't advertise on TV?  (heavens forbid that the SLT would actually
    interact with customers - except under highly controlled
    circumstances...)

    We're not trying to reach customers -- we're trying to create customers.

    Seems to me that one of Wang's last gasp efforts was a TV ad blitz.
    Remember the "Wang - The Giant Killer" spots? It's gonna take more
    than some Digital ads on prime time to pull our fat out of the fire.
    

    We've got pretty good products
    
    We've got pretty good distribution channels (sales and such)
    
    We've got pretty good people and consultants
    
    What don't we have that other successful company's possess in the 
    market place (besides fewer vice presidents;-)
    
    The answer (IMHO) is TV advertizing.  Which we have never really
    tried to do.
    
    Is TV advertizing the only answer... NO, but like a good coat of 
    paint it sure does hide a multitude of a companies sins...
    
    TV advertizing, it's expensive, subliminal, and irritating...
    
    But it works... 

    Lets not get mixed up here.Advertising on TV is merchandising and NOT
    to be confused with marketing.Marketing is making the right product for
    the right target at the right price.When you have done that then you
    can consider a merchandising program-including or not TV advertising.
    
    If you get the marketing right,then merchandising is often easy.Lets
    get the marketing right first.After that,sell it direct to targeted
    accounts(part of the market analysis) and let the TV companies get rich
    via some other suckers.
    
    IMHO of course...

    
    Re .19:
    
    Old biblical proverb: You can have the brightest lamp in town, but if
    you hide it under a basket, ain't nobody gonna see it.
    
    I hope we have learned by now that the "if you build it they will come"
    theory of marketing/selling no longer holds water. You can argue
    whether we have the right product for the right target at the right
    price. You can't possible argue whether most of our target knows us
    from watches -- they don't, and our legal beagles have proven that
    beyond the shadow of a doubt, much to their chagrin.
    
    I'm sick of walking around malls and driving down highways and reading
    newspapers and magazines and watching the tube, and seeing great ads by
    other companies with the same products and the same problems and the
    same competition, and wishing we were letting people know we also exist.
    I'm sick to tears and despair of hiding our lamp under the basket.
    

I thought it was only a year or so ago that we had TV ads out--the person
talking to their Digital computer in a sauna or whatever.  Something not
especially memorable.

If we're going to spend the money on TV ads, then they'd better be catchy
and simple.  "Imagine" isn't that catchy because it's been done before by
too many other companies.  On the other hand, "the leader in open client-
server computing" is probably not simple enough for the average TV viewer.
If we're going to stick with this Digital brand identity then "the future
is Digital" is probably better than all of the above (or even somebody
saying "I have seen the future, and it is Digital!" if we wanted to do
something dramatized vs. straight).
								- paul

    re .20
    I understand your point-better mousetrap etc.However,you may miss a
    little of mine.A marketing plan should state in pretty fine detail just
    who will buy your product.In a very sharp company,the cycle from first
    identified demand to a full plan with names is very quick.This is a
    theory I subscribe to.However,I have never send a plan in Digital with a
    customer name in it which is more than targeted fantasy and I have
    never heard a senior manager on this side of the pond express the
    slightest interest in a named target client.I used to work for
    Honeywell Control systems and when a product manager went for money to
    design something for a specific market,more often than not a VP would
    demand to visit one of the target clients.Imagine that in Digital!
    So,more food for thought-Intel(another ex employer) never advertised on
    TV until they were in risk of losing an entrenched position.They didn't
    advertise to get there,they targeted very accurately.

    re .20
    
      Don't cry.  Smile, its Friday!
    
    Marv
    

    RE: .19  
    
    	Good News and Bad News!  
    
    	The bad news first: Your views are a little mixed up!
    
    	The Good News: Read the response in .24 very carefully. It will
    help.
         

 
Product
Price
Place
& 
Promotion

RE: .19 

Promotion (advertising, etc) is most definately considered part of marketing.

How important it is relative to the other pieces depends upon the market 
you are in, the product you are marketing, etc.


> .22
>    So,more food for thought-Intel(another ex employer) never advertised on
>    TV until they were in risk of losing an entrenched position.They didn't
>    advertise to get there,they targeted very accurately.

The market has changed.  Intel now has to promote to maintain a position.
Other companies have recognized the changes and are promoting inorder
to improve their positions.  Digital needs to step on the playing
field, recognize the existing rules, and compete...  

The PowerPC camp deems promotion important enough in the marketing mix (the
4 p's) that they are advertising on TV prior to, or in conjuction with, the
release of a product line.

Why?

.25 was originally .24, then it moved to .25... so, the .24 referenced
in .24 is now .25...

got that...  :-)

    RE: .19 and .24
    
    	Pardon me for the typo, pertaining to good news the response to see
    is .23

    RE: .19  
    
    	Since the note numbers keep changing, the note I have tried to
    emphasize to you is posted under DCETHD::CURTIN "The Four P's of
    Marketing."

       <<< Note 2773.3 by GLDOA::PENFROY "Just Do It or Just Say No?" >>>


>>>    Until we change our name to something other than a generic adjective,
>>>    we will never enjoy widespread name recognition.

>>>    Digital? Digital what?

    Paul,

	I couldn't agree with you more, Digital brings out visions of 
    watches, to everyone I tell who I work for. I liked "DEC", very 
    short and something people could identify with. I'm not sure 
    how they (Coporate) determined that name recognition was better
    with "digital", I think DEC is unique and better. Maybe there 
    was a reason that "DEC" couldn't be used, who knows. 

        I agree whole heartidly with TV advertising and no, sales
    shouldn't have to give up any of their salary, but, in the interest
    of pursuing this (advertising) as a stab at getting the  corporation
    getting back on its feet, I'd be willing to give up part of my salary (2%).
    But, only under certain conditions, we'd have to have reached the 
    stated layoff goals and it would have to be announced "layoffs are
    done"! I think steps have to be taken to get morale back on track  first! 

    For those of you who think its hopeless, its not, Ford is a good
    example, (Caldwell who lead the Ford come back is on our Board
    of Directors), they (Ford) lost 3+ billion dollars back in 80, 
    resolved themselves that they "were never going to ever design and
     manufacture" their own engines ever again (they were planning on 
    buying their engines from Japan) , they were going to 
    live with 15-17% market share etc. But look at them today, 
    made changes, the right ones, introducing new engines (designed and 
    manufactured by them), market share sitting at 24% and getting
    stronger. Its not hopeless!

     We have hot boxes, we need marketing and we need products on
    both platforms (VMS and OSF). ... I disagree with this apparent one-sided
    view that OSF should be getting all of our attention, our traditional
    VMS customers are getting pissed and hot at us....

     Advertise yes, 
    tell people about Alpha, tell them about 64-bits, tell them about
    the things they can do with our boxes that other vendors can't do!
    Use some imagination! Reach out, stretch the limits of the machine,
    tell the world that others will have to migrate to 64-bits, do 
    something with that "64-bits", knock their socks off! Brag a 
    little about what we're doing with our PC's, Want INTEL, you got
    it! "and by the way - want Alpha - you got it - upgrade your
    DEC Intel based box", God! we're doing great things and the 
    world doesn't even know about it!

    We have great people in this company, its about time we started
    braging on ourselves and letting the world know, "WHO DEC IS"!

    God, look at previous accomplishments, VAX 11/780, PDP, DEC20,
    VMS, NETWORKS, we have the stuff to be great, so lets be great
    and let the world know it!

     Sorry, my 2 cents worth

     Rick

    

        i just got a brilliant idea flashed in my mind.

    since our name "digital" brings images of watches to every one, why dont we
    then stop fighting this and trying to change this image in the eyes of the
    people and instead try to utilize it and go ahead and change ourselfs 
    and we actually start making watches instead ? 

    has any one ever thought of this idea before? i mean we already got the
    right name for it, and making watches can't be harder than making
    computers, may be we'll even make more money that way, which at the end
    of the day is what we all want. (as in the means justifies the end?)

    just a thought , i thought i'll share it with you.

    thanks,
    \nasser

    "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of
     the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow
     sun.
    
    "Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles
     is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose
     ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they
     still think that digital watches are a pretty neat idea.
    
    -Douglas Adams (HHGttG)
    

        Hrmph.  Well, HE will hear from our Solicitors on the morrow.
    

    For what it's worth (and no pretense that it's much), I've been working
    for Digital for almost 17 years now, and so far, NOT ONE PERSON has ever
    told me they thought Digital made watches.

    Paul,
    
    You must work somewhere in MA...
    
    MA is the only place I can take my Digital Check to a liquor store 
    to get cashed and have no one even blink...
    
    Just try to buy lottery tickets with your paycheck in Texas...They'll
    wait three days for the check to clear first;-)
    
    As you move farther from the GMA Digital becomes slightly obsured
    by lack of Promotion and concentration of DEC employees...
    
    I was in the Galleria in Dallas and a young clerk who seeing my 
    Digital logo on something I had carried in, insisted that his 
    store did indeed carry our brand
    
    OF WATCHES...
    
    Be seeing you
    
    John Wisniewski

    Some years back I was travelling to London for training. At the
    Heathrow customs, the officer wanted prove that I was travelling on
    business (due to my yellow colour I'm sure, the Caucasian business
    travellers in front of me didn't need to show prove). The mention of
    DEC and my badge did the trick.

Out here in MO, I have several of my buddies in the National Guard who insist
that they work on Digital(tm) test equipment.  I assure them we make computers,
not test equipment, to which they look at me like I'm accusing them of being
stupid...

Best I can think of, there might be some old PDP buried in some rack of gear
and they must associate the whole thing with DEC...  I wonder if the old CSS
organization every rigged up test racks?

I also have lots of friends who claim to know about Digital, but it often 
turns out they got us mixed up with some electronics shop, etc...

Never have been accused of making watches though...!  :-)

/mike

    
    
    Digital is to Analog.  Tis that simple.  Anyone remember any
    corporations called analog years ago?

        Following Sandy's  tfso  in June '93, she joined Analog Devices
        in Wilmington, Ma. where she is very happy.
        
        She made a Digital to Analog conversion...
        
        Andy
        

>  Digital is to Analog.  Tis that simple.  Anyone remember any
>    corporations called analog years ago?

No, but there was a science-fiction pulp mag.  
Does that help?

    RE:.33
    > For what it's worth (and no pretense that it's much), I've been working
    > for Digital for almost 17 years now, and so far, NOT ONE PERSON has ever
    > told me they thought Digital made watches.
    
    In the 70's I would get support calls all the time about our watches.
    
    FWIW,
    
    Edwin
    

    Charlie Halloran gave a brief presentation which I attended in the Mill
    last week. A couple of key points I gleaned out of it:
    
    	-  Compared to others in our industry, in recent years we have
    	   spent significantly less on traditional advertising and 
    	   awareness building. (I believe "spent less" was an expression
    	   of "% of revenue"; not a flat dollar discussion)
    	-  This year, the percentage AND amount will go down; not up. This
    	   is simply because we can not afford to increase the amount
    	   of money we spend (in fact he made it very clear that his
    	   function took a fairly significant hit against what was 
    	   originally budgeted). As a result, we will very selectively 
    	   target specific areas for publicity investment.
    	-  Historically, we spent promotional money of some type on 
    	   everything we build. This is going to stop. This year we will
    	   spend fairly significant funds on a few things, a little money
    	   on some others, and almost nothing on everything else. (He
    	   indicated that people will surely experience a bit of
    	   culture shock when they begin to understand what this means).
    	-  TV Advertising is not in the cards for this year. I think
    	   Charlie felt that with the amount we have to spend, we could 
    	   not invest the level of money required to make a
    	   difference by using TV Advertising. (TV advertising needs to
    	   be repetitive and consistent -- this costs big bucks. An
    	   ad or two on the Super Bowl with nothing else the rest of the
    	   year is a complete waste.)
    	-  He indicated that even if we did do TV Advertising, Alpha would 
    	   not be the subject of TV ads in his view.
    	-  After this Fiscal year (in 9-12 months??) you might see 
    	   Digital using TV to advertise its PCs.
    
    /se
    
    
    
    

Some years ago I saw a copy of a letter we had received from a company
looking for a catalog of our Digital thermometers.

			Steve

    In the Leachmere flyer that came with my sunday paper, on the
    page that carried PC's and peripherals...One of the printers
    happens to be our 1152 Laser Printer.  It said
    
    		Digital Lazer Printer
    
    I bet a lot of people wonder what company that printer comes from!
    
    		DEC Lazer Printer makes more sense to me !!!!!

    
    RE: .41 that is unfortunate.  I think this is a grave mistake.
    
    
    
    Mike

    
    The last time I saw Digital advertising on TV, it was during the London
    marathon.   Digital had sponsored the marathon by providing systems
    for tracking entrants, etc.  Unfortunately, each time a progress report
    was flashed up, it said "Digital Timing".  My manager at that time, a
    keen marathon runner, told me that for weeks afterwards his friends were
    saying "I thought you said that you didn't make watches"?
    
    C

    re: .45 et al.
    
    I think .41's summary of Charlie Holleran's (note spelling) comments
    are accurate.  We are forced to come to the market in fewer ways and to
    put enough MARCOM spending behind those ways to make a difference.  We
    are working to maintain advertising levels and squeeze down other
    MARCOM elements that will not have broad impact.  In difficult
    financial times we are retaining as many program dollars as
    possible.  We do need to get to a point in DIGITAL where a certain level of
    customer awareness MARCOM spending is viewed as a non-discretionary
    cost of doing business. We are not there yet. 
    
    

    For what it's worth....
    
    Not only do we not advertise on TV, but apparently we don't put out
    much information to the press either.  A few weeks ago I saw an article
    on the front page of the Atlanta Constitution speaking of Intel's new
    Pentium chip as "the fastest PC chip in the world" at 60 Mhz.
    
    That's funny....I thought the Alpha PC had a 150 Mhz chip.
    
    (Shhhh...It does, but don't tell anybody.....)
    
    
    
    Rick

    	It seems we are the only one who don't believe in that media:
    extracted from VOGON today (it is in LIVEWIRE):
    
    
            {Livewire, Worldwide News, 16-Nov-93}
         (Courtesy of Digital Public Relations/Europe)
   Vobis Microcomputer AG, Germany's top PC manufacturer and the second-largest
 PC distributor in Europe, will market a personal computer based on Alpha AXP
 technology. 
   Known as the Highscreen Alpha AXP, the new PC will be available immediately
 and is built around Digital's 150 Mhz DECchip 21064. 
   Vobis will support sales of the high-end PC with television advertising and
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 14.5 million flyers mailed to German homes in the "run up" to the Christmas
 period.
   Commenting on the agreement, Barry Maloney, European vice president of
 Digital's Components and Peripherals Business Unit said: "This is one more
 step toward Alpha AXP becoming a standard on the PC market.  
   The simultaneous launch of German-language Windows NT and the Alpha PC makes
 for a powerful combination."                               
   The Highscreen Alpha AXP is display at Comdex in Las Vegas this week. Vobis
 is the only European partner sharing the Digital booth.
 _____
 Windows NT is a trademark of Microsoft Corp.
 
    

    We need to change our name. Digital is obviously not working. 
    TV or no TV.

    What about Alpha Computer Systems or Imagine International or...

    The name change campaign alone would generate more name recognition
    than all our previous advertising.

    Paul

    
    re, .49 - Aha, I'm not alone !  DEC ?  Digital ?  These are not good
    enough, IMHO.  Since we've already confused everybody, why not pull
    an ESSO-->EXXON or US Steel-->USX ?  And it would make a GREAT series
    of ads, once we can afford ads.  And finally, a big VP-based
    name-change committee would have to be formed !  Think of all the
    destructive behavior that would be suppressed while they argued over
    THIS one !  Why, I bet that alone would push us into the black soon...
    
    Morale low - poor market recognition - lousy image ?  In the 90's
    the solution of choice would be a dramatic name change !  Imagine...
    
     :-) bb
    

    	Maybe if we change our name to HP, that would work. Note that WANG
    decided AGAINST a name change when they came out of bankruptcy since
    they felt it would confuse the marketplace and actually cause them to
    lose some existing market share. Changing the company name doesn't
    always help.

    .51> Note that WANG decided AGAINST a name change when they came out of
    .51>bankruptcy...
    
    True enough... but you'll notice that they have a new logo... and it's
    SIGNIFICANTLY different from the old one (If DEC were redesigning
    WANG's logo, they'd change the curvature on the oval 5% and call it
    a major undertaking...)
    
    --jim
    

Re: .49
>   We need to change our name. Digital is obviously not working. 
>   TV or no TV.
>   The name change campaign alone would generate more name recognition
>   than all our previous advertising.

Unisys survived (debatable) a name change, and they changed just to give
a new name to two merged companies.  "digital" would be changing to give
itself "any" identity.

When we first started, the name "digital" was probably more unique and the
size/expectations of the company much smaller.  I doubt if it will ever 
become a household name, no matter how hard you advertise, because there are
so many other "digital widget" companies advertising.

Re: .51
>   Maybe if we change our name to HP, that would work. Note that WANG
>   decided AGAINST a name change when they came out of bankruptcy since
>   they felt it would confuse the marketplace and actually cause them to
>   lose some existing market share. Changing the company name doesn't
>   always help.

WANG however is a lot more unique than "digital".  Six million (I counted
them) companies worldwide have "digital" in their name.  I agree, they
(SLT) should bite the bullet and go with a completely new name. 

Incidentally, the "Imagine" advertisement has a VERY high profile on 
Australian television.  "Imagine...   an airline...".  Yes it's a 
Malaysian Airlines ad!  Mention an "Imagine" advertisement, and most
Aussies will reach for their passports not their floppy disks!

regs

    	As a datum, last night I saw two HP advertisements on French
    television. And I only watch the news and weather forecasts.

    
    And HP is now a $20 billion company.

    Just when you thought things couldn't get worse:
    
    So far over the past week, I've seen 22 TV ads by Motorola for their
    PowerPC. The heaviest concentration was during football games, morning
    news, and evening news periods. And I've been seeing their print ads
    for almost six months now. Contrast this to Alpha, which is still a
    better kept secret than our nation's nuclear warhead designs ...
    
    This is from a company that has historically done almost no mass-media
    advertising, and who doesn't even make a computer using the PowerPC chip!
    Since I do a lot of work at Motorola, I asked one of their marketing
    guys about the ads, and he said that the ads were a direct ripoff of
    the Intel Inside ads, which he considers one of the great branding
    success stories of the semiconductor world. Moto wants to sell these
    chips glued to everything from light switches to Lincoln Continentals,
    and personal computers are just the first step. And their goal is to
    ship more PowerPCs the first year than Pentium and Alpha combined.
    
    All while "Digital" thrashes on about burgundy colors and round dots
    instead of square ones ...
    
    Geoff 

    Yes.  A name change is exactly what we need to shake things up and
    begin anew.  DEC, digital, as anyone knew it is dead, gone, fini! 
    Let's move onto the future. Almost anything would be better.
    
    	- Palmer Systems, ("PSsssssss... the word is out...")
    
    	- Global Systems ("when your company has global reach, so should
    your partners")
    
    	- Systems & Solutions ("SS for systems and solutions help")
    
    	- IMAGEination, Inc. ("your business/system problems can be our
    challenges")
    
    OK, so these aren't world class, but I'm sure 85,000+ employees could
    come up with several powerful ideas at 0 to little cost

    Bob Systems ;-)

    I read in today's WSJ that there will be a new WANG advert.
    campaign based on something that sounds very close to our "Imagine"
    theme.

    Great ! Does that mean that "imagine" PR consultants moved over to skin
    Wang, made my day.

I knew it! We spelled out ad campaign wrong!!!

Should have been spelled "Imagine(TM)"...

    "Bob's Pretty Good Systems"