IBM - The Servers Are Too Hot
17 October 2007 by SilkyNow, if you’re anything like me there’s nothing you fear more than your server overheating.
My home would come to a complete standstill if my server got even so much as a degree too hot.
God, the tele wouldn’t work. The lights wouldn’t work. The gas wouldn’t work which, ironically, means the heating wouldn’t work.
It would be total chaos!
What’s that?
You don’t have a server running everything in your house?
Oh, no. Neither do I, come to think of it…
So it seems a little bit strange that IBM have paid for advertisement slots for their latest advert (which is by no means the worst one on TV) in the middle of Deal or No Deal. Or Selling Houses. Or Hollyoaks.
How many computer nerds are actually going to see that in the middle of those “during work hours” programmes?
Then again, IBM advertising on TV has always seemed a little odd to me.
They really seem to target a very small TV viewing niche market. It’s not as if they’re flogging PCs for £399 like PC World. They’re trying to shift high-end IT network infrastructure while the Pilgrims take a break from the Dream Factory (FYI: that’s Deal or No Deal for those who haven’t seen the return of the most pompous man on tele).
Surely that kind of marketing is even less efficient then the Sun Fire X2100 M2 Server? Tsk!
Thanks to bhell13 for submitting this bad ad.
4Responses:
Phil
Said on the 18 October 2007
I don’t have a server running at home either, and like 99.9% of the UK’s TV watching population I won’t ever be in a position in the future where I am deciding on my employer’s behalf which server to get - the old “hmmm, should I go for the IBM Blade centre or some other server…does anyone else even make servers?” conundrum.
But there must be a reason for this advert. One can only assume that the influence over that 0.01% of server buying people will manifest itself in massive financial returns as they all rush out to “Server-World” to buy a few hundred Blades.
Silky
Said on the 18 October 2007
Yeah, I agree, Phil. IBM probably don’t have to sell *too many* of these to make a return on their advertising investment.
But what I was trying to say was that probably none of those sales are made because the put their advert on during Deal or No Deal when most people with jobs are still at work.
Testoni
Said on the 18 October 2007
I suppose IBM are trying to smuggle their corporate image into the UK’s living rooms by stealth. Prior to seeing this advert, I had no desire to buy a server. Quite honestly, I didn’t really know what a server was. The situation hadn’t changed much after I watched it. But a stocky, balding man collapsing (possibly from a panic attack?) in the shimmering heat of the desert flooded my pop-culture receptors with macho Sopranos/Lawrence of Arabia imagery. Then they started talking about blades, which added a lethal, Wesley Snipes edge to proceedings.
By the time the advert was over, my subconscious mind had associated IBM with the dangerous, the adventurous and the exotic. I have no idea what IBM actually do; I can only assume they organise jungle exploration or own a chain of lapdancing clubs. However, if at any point I’m confronted with a choice of products, I’m going to go straight for the one which bears IBM’s logo, because they’re just plain manly.
Now if you don’t mind, I’m going back to watching my video archive of Telly Addicts from 1989. Good old Noel.
Phil
Said on the 19 October 2007
I watched some TV last night, and in every ad break they ran this advert. We’re talking at about 10:30/11pm. Total saturation.
But you’re right, Silky, the “Deal or No Deal” slot is pointless, not only because it’s watched by unemployed people, but also because it’s watched by idiotic unemployed people.
I’d like to nominate a bad advert whilst I’m here - that stupid Bird’s Eye one with Suggs controlling time. There’s literally nothing good about it.
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