Please clear your desktops: Lotus Notes 8 is here

November 27 2007

It seems that the creative work is ready to go for phase 2 of the Notes 8 end-user advertising efforts.  This new theme will be the lead for Notes 8 end-user advertising in 2008, starting outside of the US in Europe, Asia, and Australia:

Image:Please clear your desktops: Lotus Notes 8 is here

This is the "landing page" for the campaign, the destination of those click-throughs from banner ads and the like.  But you can get there now, with a URL that demonstrates how serious IBM is about getting the word out:

Link: ibm.com/lotusnotes >

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Notes and Domino 8  Add/View Comments [40]

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  1. 1  Henry Ferlauto http://www.geniusinside.com | 11/27/2007 5:47:16 PM

    OMG! Someone in IBM marketing has a real sense of humor!

    Obviously some very heavy influence from Monty Python mixed with a splash of Super Dave Osborne.

    Hopefully it has true viral properties.

    Awesome job!

  1. 2  Richard Moy http://www.dominointerface.com | 11/27/2007 5:53:02 PM

    I think that the "clear your desktop" was repeated too many times. The video that followed it was good.

  1. 3  Wayne Weinheimer  | 11/27/2007 6:00:21 PM

    Big improvement!

    The previous video reminded me of Saved By The Bell, I expected Dustin Diamond to pop on the screen.

    Being reminded of Monty Python and expecting John Cleese to pop on the screen is much better.

  1. 4  Adam Brown http://www.isw.com.au/brownblog | 11/27/2007 6:12:59 PM

    Great to see that the marketing will occur in Australia as well. We have converted 2 clients in the last 6 months and have 2 other new ones in the pipe.

    There appears to be the potential for real growth in new Lotus Notes sites and some End User marketing in Australia will really help us to gain some momentum. Great Stuff.

    Now we just need to get Fusion back up and running in Australia and I am sure we can keep that double digit growth going!

  1. 5  Ben Langhinrichs http://www.GeniiSoft.com/showcase.nsf/GeniiBlog | 11/27/2007 7:02:19 PM

    The Clear your desktop part was almost over the top, but just managed to hold on to the message, and the video was really well done. I'm very happy with this. Tell the folks who worked on this that they have a winner.

  1. 6  Paul Mooney http://www.pmooney.net | 11/27/2007 7:07:24 PM

    Funny, smart, punchy... I like it.

    Ed, are they available for download so they can be used in presentations offline?

  1. 7  Mika Heinonen http://www.siipi.com/mika | 11/27/2007 7:36:51 PM

    LOL, the motorbike stunt video rocks! Too bad it's done with flash and not real HTML, so it's hard to find out the deeplink to the actual video file.

  1. 8  Keith Brooks http://lotustech.blogspot.com | 11/27/2007 9:08:57 PM

    Very Cool, and fun. I 2nd Paul and Mika's request, where is the video for it found?

    Will just have to scrape the site I guess :-)

    Should we expect similar things from Lotusphere or will it be more serious in nature?

  1. 9  Budi Febrianto http://www.indomino.net/blog | 11/27/2007 9:21:57 PM

    I'm still waiting for Lotus Notes 8 for Mac OSx. There are few top managers that using Mac OSx, and now they keep on asked me when they will get the new lotus notes 8 client.

    They are jealous on how well lotus notes 8 run in windows.

  1. 10  Alan Bell http://www.dominux.co.uk | 11/28/2007 1:21:55 AM

    This is good. Very good.

  1. 11  Bill McCuistion  | 11/28/2007 1:40:09 AM

    Someone, please call 911 and report this!

    Everyone involved, including the "IBM-Youngsters", need to be tracked-down and locked-up.

    Might as well as told the story of how IBM punch-card machines are efficient for tracking WW-II POW's, for maximum profits, with online access.

    No kidding, How about empowering the individual, usining enterprise-ready tools? How about the black-child in Africa finding the IBM/Lotus download site, doing it, and changing the world?

    Oh, yeah, she'd have to find "stdemo3.dfw.ibm.com", but once then, what's to stop her from creating IM-groups that would change the history?

    Sooner, or later, it's gunna happen.

    Question is: Is the "NEW" IBM gunna play?

    I'm from the South, so there's a difference in "Fixing" and "Gunna".

    Need more info, call me at "q@galvestonbay.net"

  1. 12  Ben Skelton http://benskelton.blogs.com | 11/28/2007 2:19:21 AM

    It is one of those magic computers that doesn't need an actual CPU or power :)

  1. 13  Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com | 11/28/2007 2:43:11 AM

    Wow guys, very good work...

    The point's already been made, but please make these videos downloadable or even better embeddable from other sites. The short clips have the potential to be really great viral marketing, but only if there is a means to get the word out...

  1. 14  Giuseppe http://www.dominopoint.it | 11/28/2007 3:12:18 AM

    the videos are on youtube { Link }

  1. 15  Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com | 11/28/2007 3:34:34 AM

    @14 Thanks - perfect. Can't help thinking that IBM should be creating high res versions that can be embedded though. Still, we should be thankful...

  1. 16  Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com | 11/28/2007 3:42:37 AM

    Actually, not quite perfect... We get "clear your desktops" at the end, but no mention of what for!

  1. 17  NeilT  | 11/28/2007 4:19:48 AM

    Hmmmm, I know I'm cup half empty most of the time but, I am now left with the indelible impression that using Notes 8 is like crashing a motobike into your desktop and wiping everything away into the bin because it's unusable.

    The danger with a slow run up marketing campaign is that the audience turns off before you hit the punchline and is left with all the negatives and few of the positives.

    Good luck with it, it will be an interesting journey anyway.

  1. 18  Ian Scott  | 11/28/2007 4:22:13 AM

    I like these a lot.

    @16 - I wondered that for a moment but rapidly formed the view that gets people wanting to know what it is and what it's for. I'm not a marketing guy but I think that's good.

    @17 - I'm bursting with excitement 8-)

  1. 19  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 11/28/2007 5:43:02 AM

    In the Flash 'demo' one of the members of staff looks like Haitian from Heroes.

  1. 20  Charlie Phillips  | 11/28/2007 8:44:51 AM

    These are like "I am Superman" but with a little humor. At the end, you're wondering, "What's the point of it?" If you don't know anything about Lotus Notes when the video starts, you'll not know anything more by the end of it.

    Sorry, I want to be positive, but I just can't help thinking about trying to explain the "I am Superman" commercials to friends and family and giving up after only a couple of tries - this looks to be no different.

  1. 21  Henry Bestritsky http://www.binarytree.com | 11/28/2007 9:19:08 AM

    I like these a lot. They have a certain "Jackass" feel to them which will definitely make people stop and look.

  1. 22  Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com | 11/28/2007 9:28:36 AM

    I've put them up on my non-techie family blog and have already got some really good feedback, especially from the kids - though that may not necessarily be your intended audience ;-) All helps to bring back the buzz...

  1. 23  John Head http://www.johndavidhead.com | 11/28/2007 11:15:44 AM

    @20 A good marketing, and specifically advertising, person, will tell you that making a connection with the person is far more important than getting across the details. If these videos cause someone to go 'hmm ... I wonder what that is, let me google it' than they did their job.

    Remember what happened with the "I AM Superman" commercials. Oprah commented on them .. she said something along the lines of "I have not idea what Lotus Notes is, but I want it. Those commercials are great!" Bingo. Let the commercial drive the interest and the site sell the product. To me, that is perfect advertising for something so complete as Notes.

    Now, we just need these on TV during the NFL playoffs, NCAA College Football Bowl Games, and whatever Dec/Jan high audience TV programs make sense outside the US.

  1. 24  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/28/2007 12:24:58 PM

    well,they aren't going to be on TV. Youtube is the new TV, though, right? And they will be the clickthrough destination for banner ads on non-techie sites (remember, this campaign started on CNN.com in the us).

    Oh and it was Rosie O'Donnell, not Oprah :-)

  1. 25  Thomas Coustenoble http://www.ibm.com/lotusnotes | 11/28/2007 12:36:30 PM

    Yes, I confirm that we'll push these videos in a wide way. The intend is not to explain features to people (by the way, they can have an overview on the landing page if they want), it's really about getting the message/awareness out there, on a wide audience, provide a 'brand experience' (that's marketing geek name we use with the agency :-). Thank you again for your comments, we've been working hard to improve advertising considering lot of challenges...

    We're really excited to share this moment with you and improve everyday. Thomas

  1. 26  Pete McPhedran  | 11/28/2007 1:00:40 PM

  1. 27  Pete McPhedran  | 11/28/2007 1:00:41 PM

  1. 28  Pete McPhedran  | 11/28/2007 1:05:38 PM

    Wow, that was some weirdness. Don't know how the previous 2 postings got there!?

    What I wanted to say was:

    I have to side with the crowd that doesn't care for it much. I don't think it sends an intelligible message. I know what the product is and I don't know what the point of the ad(s) is/are.

    I showed it to a few people, less techie than me and one response was, "Is this a commercial for a new movie?" Another was, "See, I don't get Notes".

    The mere fact that Lotus is advertising in my opinion is good. Now if the marketing types could figure our what to say, then I would be happy.

    Sorry marketing types, but I just don't think it works.

    --Pete

  1. 29  Henry Ferlauto http://www.geniusinside.com | 11/28/2007 1:06:21 PM

    @24 - I think it they would make clever TV ads to help build awareness. But I do agree YouTube has it's place. Hopefully it achieves a viral critical mass and ends up on TV for free as the latest viral video.

  1. 30  Eric Mack http://www.ericmackonline.com | 11/28/2007 3:57:26 PM

    Ed, you mention that he Notes marketing begins outside of the U.S.

    Why?

    Are there plans to bring these campains to the U.S. too?

    If so, when can we expect to see them.

    Good news.

  1. 31  Bruce Elgort http://ideajam.net | 11/28/2007 4:37:30 PM

    @Eric,

    "(remember, this campaign started on CNN.com in the us)." from @24.

  1. 32  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 11/28/2007 4:56:59 PM

    Well, I tried to view 'em:

    "www-306.ibm.com/software/info/createsimplicity/desktop/index.jsp: FORBIDDEN"

    So then I went to the You Tube links on the support site. "This video is no longer available".

    Hey ho.

  1. 33  Thomas Coustenoble http://www.ibm.com/lotusnotes | 11/28/2007 5:04:50 PM

    @8 / Keith. No need to scrape the landing page, the agency is uploading the videos in high definition on YouTube tonight! (by the way, there are already on YouTube...but it doesn't come from them :) I'm also investigating for download option. Thomas

  1. 34  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 11/28/2007 5:47:04 PM

    They can easily be downloaded from IBM: { Link }

  1. 35  Pedro Quaresma  | 11/29/2007 3:01:28 AM

    @24 As much as YouTube could be the "new TV", it might not always be accessible to employees, and I doubt most of them will want to watch IBM videos when they're at home.

  1. 36  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 11/29/2007 3:56:26 AM

    YouTube is a lot cheaper.

  1. 37  Henry Bestritsky  | 11/29/2007 12:24:10 PM

    @36 So are Chinese toys. I would like to know the demographics of an average YouTube surfer? Is is it your average CXO?

  1. 38  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 11/29/2007 5:19:28 PM

    YouTube is only watched by CXOs. In their underwear.

  1. 39  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 12/1/2007 7:11:15 PM

    @38 - LOL

  1. 40  Niels J. Hansen  | 12/5/2007 3:00:17 AM

    Nice to see some effort out of the ordinary. Is the graphic (the desktop image) available in high res anywhere?