Who doesn’t remember the “Man in the Chair” ad by McGraw Hill*? I first saw it in my first Advertising class in college. I was thinking of this ad this week when I started doing research for the Computerworld story. I was also talking to a fellow Irregular and explaining it was going to be difficult to “flip” the end-user market away from traditional enterprise and office apps. There is a tremendous amount of education and awareness-building that is mandatory. Unlike 1.0 when all startups were flush with big-spender cash to promote their brands, 2.0 firms are going to have to find imaginative and creative ways to get the word out.
Awareness> Interest> Desire> Action.
These are advertising fundamentals. In today’s market, we have highly targeted means of reaching the enterprise 2.0 customer, but what will turn him or her away from 1.0 applications? Of course, we can count on the maverick independent thinker and the early adopter, but mainstream users are going to need a lot of market conversation before they’re ready to make this major transition.
Daunting.
Plus, do we think Microsoft will just roll over?
*McGraw Hill doesn’t permit posting this ad on the Internet, as I was gently reminded by their legal department.
