On Sunday 01 April 2007 02:52, Chad Smith wrote: > The never mention the competion maxim, if that actually ever was one, is > severly outdated - by several decades. >
[...] Heh snip Chad being inflammatory again. ;) > I would be happy to go on with another example after another example after > another example of successful big-budget advertising campaigns - some of > which are held as the best, most successful campaigns in recent years, like > the "I'm a Mac" ones - that blow those so-called "maxims" out of the water. > > And it's not a new trend. > > Ever heard of the "Pepsi challenge"? In fact if you take a global view, the attacking the opposition is a very American concept. Here, and around the world, you would end up having to prove your statements to the regulators However the "Don't Diss (I love that word, pop culture colours the language wonderfully) the Opposition" concept still stands but I would add the following caveat: "....although it's OK to point out obvious, provable comparative weaknesses!" Doesn't have the same punchy one-liner thing going on though, does it? The only place this doesn't apply is American politics where innuendo, half truths and downright lies are permitted! :) However at a reality level. If you diss the software a person is using, then that person is likely to feel as though you are dissing them for buying it. There is another rule, I call this the "Mother in Law" rule or the "Really Big But" rule: Three positives to one negative when talking about the opposition. This also is a very American rule first floated if memory serves by the great salesman Dale Carnegie, too bad the great man is forgotten these days. ( Also I may be wrong but I think DC also floated the "Don't Knock ...." rule.) The trick is the single Negative should outweigh the 3 positives and if possible the negative should not have been around when the customer bought the software/product. > > On 3/31/07, John McCreesh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Sat, March 31, 2007 09:08, Lars D. Noodén wrote: > > > On Fri, 30 Mar 2007, Kirill Palagin (Y) wrote: > > >> There is a marketing maxim "never mention the opposition". We have to > > >> embrace it at least in Marketing. > > > > > > +1 > > > > It's usually stated as "don't knock the opposition", which is subtly > > different :-) > > > > Two examples where it pays to mention the opposition: > > > > If we change the title of a Press Release from > > "OpenOffice.org Releases New Version of Free Software" > > to > > "OpenOffice.org Releases New Version of Free Software alternative to > > Microsoft Office" > > we get far more page impressions. > > > > Microsoft has a zillion dollar advertising budget; we have nix. If > > Microsoft launch an anti-piracy campaign, we turn it to our advantage by > > offering OOo as the best way to get legal - so-called "guerilla > > marketing". It's hard to do this without mentioning Microsoft :-) I would be careful however, in that _always_ making comparisons can come back to bite you, because the reverse is also true we expose ourselves to negative comparisons. Our biggest weakness in the marketplace right now is not quality, it is brand recognition. Real world example: A Computer shop owner in a small town near me puts OOo on every new computer he sells. When I walk into a business in town, people immediately recognise the logo on my Polo Shirt and they want to talk about Office software issues. Our goal by the release of OOo3 is 80% penetration in the SME market in the town. Very achievable, made so much easier by good brand recognition..... and the "Mother in Law" rule, thanks to the other guys pricing structures and MGA! :) We need to lift our brand recognition. I reitterate my "Gooogle OOo" idea > > John > > Cheers GL -- "GET LEGAL - GET OPENOFFICE.ORG" http://why.openoffice.org ISO 26300 compliant Graham Lauder, OpenOffice.org MarCon (Marketing Contact) NZ http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html INGOTs Assessor Trainer (International Grades in Office Technologies) www.theingots.org.nz --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
