Winston's reply to you, Art, says to me that HP is marketing (to some
degree) the HP 3000 to industries where it has an installed base (he
mentions credit unions and mail order, 2 large HP3000 users), but not
marketing outside of that.  I think that the Raven-listers here could
collectively write a PR piece about reliability, stability, OS version
compatibility, etc., that would catch an editor's attention, be published,
and hopefully appeal to industries not already served by the 3000.  A story
titled, "Our System Hasn't Been Down For 2 Years!!", written by reputable
users, is bound to catch the reader's eye isn't it?

John "I have a vested interest in this, too" Lee

At 12:01 PM 8/14/2000 -0700, Art Bahrs wrote:
>Hi John :)
>    Well... since you played 'Straight Man' I guess I should deliver the
>'Punch Line'.... ala Winston Prather of HP... since he answered my question
>concerning getting InfoWorld to give the 3k some free advertizing...
>
>Below is Winston's Reply to my "Question from a RUG President Post" back a
>while... it was a direct reply but it does answer the InfoWorld question you
>asked, John...
>
>Art "still puzzled... this ain't the HP,  Howard Vollum spoke of!!! " Bahrs
>
>Reply from [log in to unmask]:
>
>Hi Art,
>
>Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate it.  We're always looking
>for ideas on how we can get more visibility for the HP e3000,
>especially if it's $free$.
>
>Our current approach is to use two different types of advertising to reach
>customers.  First, for existing customers, we use installed base
>publications.
>We have found this very effective at getting our messages directly to
>customers that have already chosen the HP e3000.
>
>For attracting new customers, we use a very focused solution based
>approach.  The logic behind this is simple, that's where we are being
>successful in attracting new customers.  Therefore, you don't see 3000 ads
>in pubs like InfoWorld, etc. But you will see HP 3000 solutions prominently
>mentioned with our solution partners in publications targeting web and mail
>order, credit unions, etc.
>
>We have found that using generic industry advertising is not effective
>for us.  To make a real impact it takes a very large scale effort and I
>believe
>that our investments are better spent on continuing to make the HP e3000 the
>
>best product it can be.
>
>We do get generic industry press coverage when we make product
>announcements, like
>we did this past spring.  We try and ensure that we get as much mileage from
>this
>as possible.
>
>I understand and agree with the comments that we need more visibility for
>the
>HP e3000.  We are always looking for new creative ways to do this.
>
>Thanks again for your feedback and thoughts.
>
>Regards,
>
>Winston
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Art Bahrs [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Wednesday, August 02, 2000 11:49 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Cc: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: A Question from a RUG President?
>
>
>Hello Mr. Prather,
>
>   Recently Wirt Atmar posted the URL listed below.... This InfoWorld
>article basically amounts to excellent *FREE* advertizing (sp) for IBM about
>their AS/400 product line... and shows a stance that is garnering IBM sales
>inquiries ....
>
>   When will we see similar *FREE* advertizing (sp) from/for HP's e3000
>product line?
>
>Thanks,
>Art Bahrs
>President
>Oregon Regional User's Group for HP Computer Users (ORERUG)
>(503) 644-6444 x 4341
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2000 2:01 PM
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Legacy to e-business server
>
>
>> In the current, on-line version of Infoworld, there's a review of IBM's
>> reworking of the AS/400e (notice the "e") that asks all the same questions
>> and comes to the same conclusions that this group does concerning the HP
>> e3000.
>>
>> The URL for the several articles is:
>>
>>      http://www.infoworld.com/news/as400.html
>>
>> All of the articles in the section should be read, if for no other reason
>> that to develop a strong sense of envy for IBM's management. And perhaps
>even
>> more disturbing a statistic, if you use Inforworld's search engine* and
>type
>> in "AS/400", you're going to find at least a hundred articles scattered
>over
>> the last year in the magazine. If you type in the phrases "HP 3000",
>HP3000",
>> or "HP e3000", the equivalent number of articles for the same period is
>zero.
>>
>> That's essentially the problem in nutshell.
>>
>> Wirt Atmar
>>
>> *The search engine is on Infoworld's home page: http://www.infoworld.com/
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "John Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, August 14, 2000 8:52 AM
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Publicizing the e3000; Plan B
>
>
>> Perhaps even better, get INFOWORLD interested in doing a feature story
>> about the HP 3000.  This is free and very effective advertising.  If the
>> impetus for the story is coming from the users (as opposed to the
>> manufacturer), it adds credibility and makes it even more effective.
>>
>> John Lee
>> Vaske Computer Solutions
>>
>> At 10:04 PM 8/13/2000 -0600, Julie Bixby wrote:
>> >The idea of my first post was to address the concerns that the e3000
>wasn't
>> >getting enough publicity.  Making a card for Carly is fine, but that
>still
>> >doesn't alert others outside HP (besides, I thought the "contact HP's
>> >executives" idea had already been tried to no avail?).  If you do a card,
>> >you could take a photo of people wearing their owl T-shirts to accompany
>> >it.
>> >
>> >I was talking to a friend today about the ad idea, and he suggested a
>> >cheaper alternative:  having the president of the user group (or anyone,
>> >really) write a letter to the editor of INFOWORLD.  Something to the
>effect
>> >of, "Saw the article on the AS400--have been waiting ever since for your
>> >article on the HP e3000--when's it due?"  Or it could directly address
>the
>> >non-promotion issue.  Whatever he or she wants to write.  Even if it
>> >doesn't get printed, at least you've told INFOWORLD your community
>exists,
>> >which is part of the point, no?
>> >
>> >What are the one-day ad rates for the local Philly papers?
>> >
>> >--
>> >Julie Bixby
>> >[log in to unmask]                         http://www.bixby.org/julie/
>> >Engage Romulan .sig cloaking device...
>> >
>> >
>
>