Gavin Scott <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Alfredo joins in:
>  > Now, for the minor technical detail of the ad itself.  A simple
>  > solution would be to just have the VERY same content as the card
>  > in very large letters so that you can see them from row 176 of the
>  > plane to Philadelphia when some CIO is reading it on row 1.
>
>Well, I think if we're going to spend the money we should have at least
>three or four paragraphs extolling the virtues of the 3000 (maybe
>specifically mentioning those vertical markets where the 3000 offers an
>excellent application solution).
>
>Ah, what if everyone who contributes a certain amount (say the current $1000
>cap on contributions) gets to list a URL of their choice next to their name?
>Either your company's web site (if you have a 3000-related business) or if
>you are a customer and can get permission, or any 3000-related URL of your
>choice.
>
>Pick your favorite 3000 resource on the web and publicize it in the Wall
>Street Journal (or equivalent)!
>
>And now 3000-related businesses can write the $1K off as a business expense
>:-)
>
>$1000 starts to look pretty cheap for your "own" full page ad in a national
>newspaper.

I am VERY sorry but I disagree with Gavin.  This would cheapen the
message and would put it on the same level as the fully-packed ads
we see all the time.  The "signatures" and URLs would not be elegant.
How about just signing as "MPE users, worldwide" (or HP3000, or HPe3000)?

I can understand Gavin's rationale, but I believe that this is not
a standard case (did I say "standard"?)

As examples, see Apple's "Think different" campaign or Absolut's campaign.
They produce the cleanest, least-cluttered ads in the advertising industry.
We don't want a class-action-suit ad.  We want the equivalent of a sweet
love letter to HP from Cinderella, back in the kitchen, addressed to the
folks who are enjoying the company of courtiers at the Royal Ball.

What we really want, though, is to make people wonder and to motivate
some journalists to ask some deep questions :-)

I know it will take a tremendous amount of self discipline to produce
a clean and short ad.  It would be easy to produce a verbose ad.  Yes, I
know that I have been accused, for decades, of being verbose in my
software :-)

Short and sweet and in BIG letters, that's my proposal.  The final text
is still up for editing, of course, but I believe we have some excellent
ideas.

I understand there are some folks already working on contacting The
Wall Street Journal...

  _______________
|               |
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|            r  |  Alfredo                     [log in to unmask]
|          e    |                           http://www.adager.com
|        g      |  F. Alfredo Rego
|      a        |  Manager, R & D Labs
|    d          |  Adager Corporation
|  A            |  Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000            U.S.A.
|               |
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