If you are into this sort of thing Sun has posted a marketing video about their new blades (announced yesterday) on YouTube.
I’m linking to it not for content, but because this is yet another example of Sun adopting modern internet communication patterns to get their message out. I think it’s very interesting that of the majors Sun is the only one seriously investing in going out and meeting the next generation of technologists on their own turf.
It’s probably a medium-term strategy at best, because it will take a while for the people who are reading blogs now and watching YouTube videos to be promoted to a level that they make purchasing decisions. Then again, you read blogs already, don’t you?
My personal bias is that I hope this pays off for them, because I think the strategy is innovative and forward thinking. If anyone from Sun reads insideHPC and knows whether this strategy is working, I hope you’ll post a comment and share a little of the view from inside the company.
I can’t speak for all of Sun, but we employees have been encouraged to use new awareness tools like blogging and YouTube. In large, I think this came about as a result of so many customers who came to visit and say, “Wow! I didn’t know you had all this cool, innovative stuff.”
So, getting the word out without the kind of advertising dollars that our competitors have is the challenge. And yes, we are trying to do market in new ways. Promotions like our Try and Buy program are a good example: http://www.sun.com/tryandbuy/
Has this strategy been effective? Tough to say, but our server revenue has grown for the last five quarters in a row.
Cheers,
Rich
Rich – thanks for reading, and thanks for the inside scoop. I know that everyone else will be very interested in what’s going on at Sun. You guys are definitely out in front of your brethren in terms of use of new media.