Re: Marketing question about AS/400 name -- MIDRANGE-L

John,

We are not debating the name, but the marketing for someone who has i5/OS
software.

I agree, you must market to your constituents who think they have an AS/400.
Why? Because you are not willing to educate them that there is something
that has evolved from the AS/400. You want to let them think that they are
living in the past. While this is not ~my~ preference, that does not mean it
is not valid. My point was simply this - the number of people who HAVE
AS/400s is shrinking. The number of people who THINK they have AS/400s is
shrinking. If you cater for AS/400s, your market will shrink. Not a good
business decision. In the end, marketing software to a customer with an
AS/400 is certainly different than marketing to those customers who have an
iSeries, and is different than marketing to customers who think of their
server as a System i. It is up to you which of these markets you chase - if
you blindly stick to AS/400, you will miss out on the future customers. (And
no, I am not advocating three campaigns, either!)

And, I think there is a difference between marketing, and SELLING to a
prospect. If your prospect is looking actively at the market, they will find
you with your i5/OS moniker. Because you have done all the right things and
included enough about the AS/400 to show your strong heritage. Then, when
you talk to them and SELL to them, you can keep being stubborn and call
their System i server an AS/400 - makes you happy, makes them happy, and
does nothing to promote the future of the platform. I think you should take
that opportunity to MARKET the future of the platform while you SELL your
product.

I don't think we disagree about the use of the term "AS/400" - just the
prominence of it. And, I like to think it is a talking point to get them to
understand that AS/400 is our PAST, and i5/OS is our future. Not too
difficult, IMO, but something that few people can get used to - or want to
even try?

Trevor
AS/400 is our heritage. i5/OS is our future.

On 10/4/07 3:40 PM, "John Earl" <john.earl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Do you need to communicate to someone who is not listening or keeping

up?

Marketing is for awareness, not education...

I was determined not to participate in another name debate, but Trevor
(and I say this in the nicest way possible because I like you), on this
point you couldn't be more wrong.

Yes, IBM screwed this name thing up royally - and the group that is most
adversely affected is ISV's - we now have to change all of our marketing
collateral to reflect all of the existing names, and no, no effing way,
can we afford to drop the "AS/400" moniker because there are lots of
people who have a need for ISV software for there System i's, yet still
refer to their System's as "AS/400's". No ISV I know of is willing (or
able) to ignore a prospect because the prospect doesn't know the current
"correct" name for the freaking box.

We (ISV's) _need_ to talk to people who still think of the box as
"AS/400" because they need our (ISV's collectively) software. If we
ignore this demographic, we could miss a huge chunk of our potential
market.

My advice to the original poster is to prominently use the name AS/400
on your website. There will be lots of people who will google on that
name, and you want them to find you.