"The best run companies run SAP."
A brilliant strap line isn't it? Possibly up there with "Just Do It", "Where's the Beef?" and "Got Milk?"
If you are part of a specific industry type then you will have heard this phrase. If you are a business traveler and it is familiar to you thats because it is posted up in every major airport in the world.
SAP, for those who don't know, is a gigantic Enterprise Resource Planning tool set, the world leader in fact. All the projects of theirs that I have ever come across have a price tag in excess of $10 million.
Yet I am sure that nobody ever sees one of their billboards and calls them saying "Send me one of those SAP things, we'll do the Purchase Order tomorrow".
So why do they advertise like this? Why do they spend millions of dollars every year posting their sizable billboards in expensive advertising space in major airports around the globe? Isn't the goal of advertising to make the phone ring?
Well... no ... it isn't alway about that at all.
Sometimes it is about brand recognition. Would you buy a book from LuLu.com? What about Amazon? It makes a difference doesn't it...
The goal of a lot of what is left of display advertising is more about being recognized for something. Not just getting the name out, but getting it out related to something. It is about creating awareness of your product, service line, special abilities and track record.
But most of all, it is about making the door slightly ajar when you do call on that client... display advertising is an essential element of our industry, our economies, and of getting a relationship initiated.
It makes the trust based stuff a lot easier once you have been introduced.
If you enjoyed this post please consider subscribing to this feed, or you can subscribe to Consulting Pulse by email.
