We’re just finalising the details for the next Sales & Marketing Forum (pencil 11 May into your diaries, and see details here of the previous session), focusing on what it will take to be a successful supplier to the public sector over the next few years.

So it was interesting to hear ‘File on 4′ this evening on Radio 4 – a neat example of how political necessity may affect IT suppliers to the public sector. Listen again to the programme here – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r0vxg – it covers high profile issues with projects in the Rural Payments Agency, Fire Brigade and (of course) the NHS, asking whether a new government should scrap these projects and define new ones in a very different way. Whether or not all the claims are justified, it certainly highlights a feeling that exists in political debates and general public opinion.

Suppliers are up against some strong external prejudices and preconceptions (based on headlines like the average cost per year of 100 Accenture employees on one project being £200,000 each) – as well as the likelihood of new buyer priorities and strategies after May. It’s going to be very interesting to hear expert views on what this means for supplier sales & marketing strategies. I’ll update more on the Forum as soon as we have the details.

As the Edinburgh Festival Fringe gets underway, with comedy continuing to grow across popular culture, perhaps more B2B organisations will take the plunge and find new ways to use video to cut through to customers or even to engage their own employees?

Clearly considerations around audience, message, objectives and brand will always play a role in deciding whether comedy might be the right route to take. And while we have had great success introducing it into campaigns over the last few years, it is arguable that comedy could be used more often than it is. If you are thinking about whether video could form part of your web 2.0 marketing strategy, and what story you might have for your audience, our planner (available here) may help to put it in context.

I’ve listed here a few videos that spring to mind as examples of organisations that have taken the first step, but please do suggest your own…

Perhaps the classic high-production-value video is the EDS Superbowl advert from 2000:

Which does have a less well-known twin (with a slightly more involved business message):

Then there are vendors who have a more specific axe to grind, as in the case of Lawson, making a case for ‘Simpler is Better’ when it comes to software…

And while Lawson’s first video from 2007 (above) has 65,000 views on YouTube, the latest installment (below) from April 2009 now has over 300,000. Clearly, lessons to be learnt around the determination to see through a new media campaign.

Outside of IT, there are some very imaginative examples like this one from a supplier making the point that the time has come for their product (I won’t say any more to avoid giving away the secret to a very clever, very rewarding watch):

But what video round-up would be complete without Mr T? Especially Mr T promoting virtualisation: “I pity the fool who doesn’t use Hitachi Data Systems virtualisation”…

Such has been the success of Cisco’s recent proactive social media strategy that the FT’s Tech blog has felt compelled to write about it.

Cisco have been piloting a social media strategy around its new Unified Computing System. The broad approach is to use social media channels to test-run messaging and potential feedback, then use that feedback to tailor the message to different stakeholders before the formal launch.

The FT blog states, “By the time the Unified Computing System launched, Cisco had drummed up considerable interest in the new product. It had had more than 53,000 interactions with customers, and honed its message to near perfection. “It’s about anticipating the issue, getting feedback from customers, then adjusting our message,” said Ms Gibson.

“All this advance work paid off, says Ms Gibson. Upon the official launch, the UCS was met with wide applause. The new product attracted enormous media attention, and 98 per cent of the stories were positive, according to the company.

“Ms Gibson says the effort was a success, and Cisco will be incorporating the strategy in the future. “The idea of using social media for market conditioning is going to inform our launches going forward,” she said.”

The FT’s major thrust here is that the value of social media marketing here has come from its proactivity; using social media tools as a kind of giant, virtual market research panel.

An IDC survey of 515 Western European IT decision makers in organizations with more than 50 employees showed surprisingly high usage of open source enterprise applications. 9% of respondents reported current use of an open-source back-office application, while 7% of respondents used an open source CRM application.

From a general perspective, the survey showed that the main driver behind open source adoption is the absence of an upfront license payment along with a lower total cost of ownership. The main inhibitor inhibiting organizations from adopting open source applications are concerns related to the level of software support and the quality of open source software.

“In an enterprise applications market in which large vendors boast a 10% market share, adoption rates of 9% and 7% appear very high,” said Bo Lykkegaard, research director, European Enterprise Applications and Services, IDC. “Of course, usage can mean anything from departmental use or niche use to enterprisewide deployment. We expect the majority of users of open source enterprise applications to use commercial enterprise applications at the same time. Despite this reservation, the survey results show that open source adoption in ERP and CRM has reached a critical threshold and should now make a ‘bleep’ on every vendor’s radar screen, particularly for those that compete in the midmarket.”

“We see vendors of open source enterprise applications attracting equity investments and heavyweight leaders and growth rates are typically above 20% per year, sometimes much higher. IDC believes the net effect of the emergence of open source enterprise applications will be one of price pressure, in particular in the midsized segment. We do not expect a religious war between an open source community on one side and commercial proponents on the other. Rather, it will all come down to a battle over who can provide the customer with the most ERP or CRM per euro.”

April 2nd’s New York Times reported the then-growing rumour that IBM was to buy Sun Microsystems for $7bn. The deal could easily increase IBM’s hold on some key hardware and software markets, especially as regards datacentres. However, reports out late yesterday suggested that the deal had collapsed after Sun’s board ”balked” at reduced offer and IBM withdrew it.

CIO Magazine’s top 3 initiatives for CIOs make interesting reading. It suggests that 2009 is a great year to look to outsourcing for economic, efficiency and innovation advantages. Its top 3 suggestions for CIOs looking at their outsourcing arrangements are focused on structure of deal, cost of deal and rationalisation. Which on the face of it makes pretty gloomy reading for outsourcing providers.  Look deeper however, and there are rays of light in the article, and possible angles for lead gen campaigns.

1. The article suggests reviewing the structure of agreements to make them based on demand/consumption rather than people/T&M. Such agreements require better alignment between supplier and customer - surely a major factor in generating useful leads, proposing a solution and winning the bid
2. Portfolio rationalisation for application outsourcing – the article also suggests an optimum mix of outsourcing suppliers depending on the size of the CIO’s organisation. A bigger share of the pie will be up for grabs for suppliers willing to invest in getting it.
3. Cost-cutting: keeping costs down was always going to be one of the three. However, the article says that CIOs can also save money by spending it - if you can get to market faster, make quality improvements or improve productivity versus what’s already being delivered then you’re in a good position.

If CIOs are looking at these three priorities now, it’s a great opportunity for marketers to work with sales and take propositions to companies based around one, two or all three of these priorities.

It’s worth noting the many comments that that have been posted in response to this article. The backlash against offshoring is clearly gathering momentum, especially in the wake of the money earmarked for IT projects in the economic stimulus package.

That would be us then…

When we started this blog we had a few rules. One of which was “no blatant self promotion”. We hope that, for one night only, you can forgive us for breaking it! 

Last night we won Best Marketing Communications Agency at the B2B Marketing Awards. The largest B2B marketing event in the world outside the US, this prestigious awards ceremony took place at the fabulous Emirates Stadium in London.

We were absolutely bowled over to have won the award – a testament to the dedication, talent and thoughtfulness of our wonderful team. We are proud to work with all of you, thank you.

We also are extremely lucky to have been supported at the event by our clients – all of them true marketing professionals, whose vision and determination to undertake efficient and effective marketing inspires us daily.

So congratulations to everyone at The Marketing Practice, and to all of our clients and friends who have helped us to achieve this. 

And if you’re passing the Eyston Arms today, pop on in – we’ve got a hair of the dog with your name on it.