Palm Kicking Off Ad Campaign Monday

Posted By: Ed Friday, November 9, 2001 10:22:01 AM

Acting Palm CEO Eric Benhamou said that demand for Palm products is picking up and has reached levels higher than any the company has seen in months. "We are encouraged that sell-through has rebounded to levels above that of the summer months," he said.

Not content with that, Palm is launching an advertising campaign on Monday. This will include both TV and online ads that focus on the everyday uses for Palm handhelds. It is intended to help increase sales during the holiday season.

These ads will also highlight the advantages of the SD slot. They will be heavily advertising the free 16 MB SD card with the purchase of a m500 series or m125.

AKQA, a San Francisco-based ad agency, developed the new campaign. The ads, produced by Digital Kitchen, with music by techno club band Daft Punk, will break on national cable TV, with Canadian and some network coverage, also. The ads are being crafted for international use as well.

"The ads are modern and digital, and they reflect the personality of Palm, and there's also a nice link with resellers," said Kirk Citron, chief strategic officer of AKQA. "I think the message will resonate with a broad range of people -- especially the expansion message and free SD card offer, which lets people experience the additional value they can get out of their Palm handhelds."

"We're moving from the mobile professional to the mobile majority, a market where useful and relevant applications are king," said Ken Wirt, senior vice president of Solutions Group Marketing for Palm, Inc. "We have an outstanding applications story to tell, and we're telling it. Our expansion capabilities and SD card promotional offer make our story even more compelling. These little cards unleash a torrent of capability."

After a very weak spring, Palm's most recent quarter saw a strong rise in demand, with revenues up 30%. Mr. Benhamou said yesterday that the current quarter is on track to meet management's expectations.

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Typo in title

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 10:52:08 AM #
Title of post; should read either "Palm Kicking of Ass Campaign Monday" or "Palm Kicking Off Ad Campaign Monday," probably the latter. :D

-N

RE: Typo in title
Ed @ 11/9/2001 11:06:41 AM #
*sigh* Thanks.

---
News Editor

Pathetic!

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 11:06:13 AM #
Put those money for TV ad into development.
Come out with "even" one convicing product.

People will buy without those fancy Ads. They still don't get it, do they?

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 11:10:03 AM #
Palm needs to GROW their market. Not just sell upgrades to the same geeks. The average joe on the street will NOT buy a product without some advertising. Non-geeks have hardly heard of a Palm Pilot and need some help learning what it can do for him. "Build it and they will come" doesn't work.

Damn glad to hear these ads will be focused on what a palm can do. I agonized for years watching Apple fall running ads telling people that a Mac is a lifestyle choice and never saying, "The Macintosh is easier to use than Windows". I hope Palm comes out with ads telling the world how easy a palm is and how over-complicated the competition is.

RE: Pathetic!
Admin @ 11/9/2001 11:18:16 AM #
the ads will help spur demand for current products, thus creating more $$$ for R&D. think about it.
RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 12:06:18 PM #
Sure. 90% of the users just use the built applications. They are not geeks like us who love technology. I know lots of people who are "afraid" of Palms. They think they are difficult to use, other think they are expensive for just storing phone numbers, they prefer a cell phone. R & D requires more money. That money will come from selling more devices to people who still havenŽt bought a Palm or have an old model.
If you spend all money on hardware then you will have expensive toys (see PPC devices).

I think this is a good move from Palm.

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 2:47:44 PM #
Absolutely...sure, I might load up my Palm's RAM with ebooks, apps, and games; but my roommate, who's no techie, almost didn't care enough to change her Palm's batteries when they went, and is using her Dad's old Pilot Pro with nary a care.

There are probably more people like my roommate in the mass market than there are people like me. And why should they drop hundreds of dollars on something they only see as a glorified address book?

Ah, but it can do so much more, say us geeks.

Sounds like that's what the commercials are meant to do: Make the ordinary, non-techie consumer see Palm devices as having multiple, simple, everyday common uses (most people are STILL referring to them as "Palm Pilots," which shows how little they know of what Palms do today).

If it works, and the prices stay low enough, Palm would be rolling in R&D money. They don't have to produce a product that "convinces" the power user, they just have to convince the everyday user to buy the product they already have.

-rueyeet, who is too lazy to go log in before posting

RE: Pathetic!
Stefan @ 11/9/2001 4:03:33 PM #
Sorry, but what is R&D ?

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:27:16 PM #
R&D is short for Research and Development.

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 5:55:13 PM #
It's about time Palm did some advertising to the masses. I've been saying that for years. I'm also waiting for folks like us to get our sales commission checks, since most of us have been so pro-palm we've encouraged others to buy. I can take credit for the fact that in the last year my department at work has a user group and has purchased aprox 30 VIIx,prisms, Vx's and M505. Under the reasons that it icreased productivity and worklife balance and a different platform to deliver content on. I also agree that Clie users can be a bit smug at times. I love my clie 610 but I still carry a VIIx and I don't forget it all started with Palm. The simplicity of the basic non expandable palm can't be beat. It's taken palm a while to advertise to the masses but better late than never.

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 6:17:43 PM #
R&D budgets are paid for out of sales. Get more sales and this will automatically increase the R&D effort.

GO FOR IT, PALM!

RE: Palm Strikes Back
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 6:20:21 PM #
Now is the time to pile the pressure on PPC; now that it is at its most vulnerable.

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 6:29:55 PM #
> Now is the time to pile the pressure on PPC; now
> that it is at its most vulnerable.

The PPC is not the enemy. Why do the tech geeks here make everything an "US vs. THEM" battle? Like Shatner said: "Get a LIFE!!!".

I wonder if these fools argue on other sites about the superiority of KRAFT Velveeta and Shells vs KEEBLER cookies? Yes, I can see it now: Now is the time to put pressure on the KEEBLER ELVES when they are the most vulnerable. When their chief ELF, Yankerkowski, has fallen. We must make KRAFT the number one selling food !!! There are too many culinary-challenged people who are afraid of boiling water and squeezing cheeze out of plastic bags. We must show the KEEBLER ELVES that cookies aren't so easy to eat. Yes, we'll show them.

Yeah, get a life....


RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 9:10:22 PM #
Your Keebler and Yankowski obsessions are becoming very creepy. Please leave.

RE: Pathetic!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 1:37:05 AM #
3 points:

1. What was the orinal title (somebody mentioned "Palm Kicking off @$$ Campaign Monday?

2. I believe the use asking what R & D stands for was former PHCEO Carl Walscritdoesntmatterwhathisnameisjabroni.

3. Who cares about Craft???? Keibler (stacy) is hot!!!!

"You Can Buy Now. We Got Rid of Carl."

mikecane @ 11/9/2001 11:31:03 AM #
A rejected ad line.

We got lots of goodies, and we're gonna get Sculley...
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/11/2001 9:47:08 AM #
Let's see if this one works..

too little too late

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 12:33:12 PM #
I gave up on Palm and got a Sony 760c which is just amazing. Thank you Sony for innovating the Palm platform!

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 1:50:56 PM #
Amen...I was able to convert my N710C to a N760C and it is the best GD Palm product made.

RE: sony geeks
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 2:29:35 PM #
Why is it that there is always a sony freakin clie user that has to tell us how great their 'PALM clone' is in every one of these comments when they get the chance. Is it the short guy syndrome or the 'little' guy in you spouting off.
Please grow up!

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 2:39:50 PM #
True that! Palm Handhelds for life~*

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:28:10 PM #
Try the f'n clone. You might like it.

RE: clone
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:33:55 PM #
Why bother, I already have one that I like, thanks.

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:36:19 PM #
so, no use making negative comments on another product then.

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:44:45 PM #
r u a republican?

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 4:50:15 PM #
Apparently you missed my point. I am not making negative comments on other products. I am glad that people love their PDA's, which means that they have found a great product.....for them. It doesn't have to be the same great product for everyone does it? I am just getting very annoyed with the boisterous SONY owners, get over it. We should direct our efforts on getting more people using these things, whatever the make or model, so that we can have more aps available to all of us wherever we go and with whatever PDA we happen to be using. It is a great technology to have all of this information in a small unit like the Palm or Clie or HP or Casio or whatever, (sorry if I left anyone out). Let's move on and not try to kill the industry with infighting.
Have a great day!

RE: too little too late
digilaw @ 11/9/2001 7:41:44 PM #
Are you upset because you feel jealousy towards these Clie owners? Otherwise why does it upset you so much, seems kind of Freduian if you ask me. I think the Clie person was just commenting on Palm's weakness. Lets be honest, if it wasn't for the Clie many of the gadget-phile, bells and whistles loving handheld enthusiasts would've been forced into *shudder* buying an iPaq. I think those Clie people are just expressing their gratitude to Sony for keeping these enthusiasts, who are the core of the consumer market, in the Palm OS camp. From my end I would be an ipaq owner if not for the Clie. It just made sense in comparing the m505 to an ipaq when considering money and hardware capability. Now if only Sony cared about their customers as much as they cared about the bottom line and their product lines.

I used to hate Sony too until...
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 9:14:03 PM #
I used to hate Sony until I saw the N710C. And then I joined the Clie group on Yahoo. (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CLIE_Users_Group)

Now I know why Clie owners are so happy!
If you're thinking about getting a Clie, check out this group and you'll hear a lot of amazing things about what they can do.

RE: way too little,way too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/9/2001 11:21:51 PM #
Obviously I am having trouble writing these days. No jealousy...nothing. I am very happy for all who have found their special little pets like me. I just don't seem to hear WinCE owners fighting amongst themselves as to who has the best model. Competition is good, but to go back to my first point, I would just like to read about the news in the handheld industry without having to hear about someone's great deal that they just got, or how they feel they made a better deal than the next guy, or how Palm is going down, etc. It seems like most comments I have read are usually Clie owners bashing Palm products. Why is that? I can't recall seeing Palm users going out of their way to tell all how much better their model is than the other makers. That's it in a nutshell. But I suppose this will be misread also, so I will expect to hear from more geeks on this soon.

RE: too little too late
sub_tex @ 11/10/2001 12:44:22 AM #
man...... it seems people never tire of this lame subject header. "too little too late."

sheesh...

between the Palm sucks, Sony is the best, PPC is the enemy garbage and "too little too late", it seems you can cut and paste the responses to the last 3 months' news articles on PIC.

It would be nice to read some responses with new comments or ideas.

As for my take on the Ad campaign, i say it's a great thing. There are plenty of clueless people out there (how do you think AOL has been such a success?) and ads that showcase some of the Palm's features can only be good news.

RE: too little too late
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 9:48:33 AM #
I started this thread and I guess people missed the point. I'm not taking sides or anything. I used to have a PalmPilot Professional for years and it was time to upgrade. I checked out the 505 and the clie. I preferred the clie for a number of reasons. I feel that Palm has stopped innovating and Sony is. If Palm creates some killer products, I'll buy them.

Good Idea ... Go on, Palm !

Stefan @ 11/9/2001 4:05:05 PM #
Explaining the abilities and usefulness of Palm handhelds to more people than those already interested in electronics sounds good to me. YouŽre on the right way, after getting rid of your former CEO and now starting ads orientated on new customers. Hope, youŽll start ads like these here in Europe, especially in Germany soon ...

RE: Good Idea ... Go on, Palm !
skoty @ 11/9/2001 7:41:12 PM #
Does anyone remember the train add when Palms started delivering with an IR port? That add really made some waves. Wouldn't it be great if they could do that again.

RE: Good Idea ... Go on, Palm !
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 1:12:37 AM #
But Palm has no new "snappy" innovation since the thinner device and ir. So that add was allright, but everything palm has come out with has just been repackaged 3 year old tech.

RE: Good Idea ... Go on, Palm !
skoty @ 11/10/2001 10:28:19 AM #
What if they came out with a similar comercial showing the same two characters (a continuation) meeting up again, but with just enough time to notice each other. Then they trade business cardes from adjacent rooms with Bluetooth. I'm sure the Bluetooth SIG wouldn't mind that kind of exposure.

RE: Good Idea ... Go on, Palm !
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/12/2001 8:36:07 AM #
That's probably what they should do, considering that the Bluetooth card should be here soon. People love easy data transfer and it would be great to get the rest of the world clued into wireless.
While we're at it, would they want to show a few select third-party apps and periphs that really showcase what their machinery can do? How about wireless Web? Word processing? Printing? This would at least help to eliminate a lot of the common perception of handhelds.
"Why are you playing with that? It's just an organizer."
"No, it's not."
"It can just organize your phone numbers and keep track of your schedule."
"It can do a lot more than that."
"It can't surf the Web."
"Will that be modem, network, or wireless?"
"It can't take pictures."
"Here's the camera."
"It can't write Word documents."
"Here's the folding keyboard and here's the word processor. What font would you like?"
"Well, it can't print..."
"Here's the printer."

Palm began life by selling the concept that their machines were an easy way to look at one's information and keep track of it on the go, nothing more, nothing less. They succeeded wildly at that, but their continued prosperity may be dependent on their ability to kill that concept. Handheld organizers impress very few any more; an organizer can be had from your average drugstore. However, try typing a Word document on that handheld organizer. A handheld computer could impress pretty much anyone who hasn't ever used one, and even some people who have. In my own experience, most people are very surprised at what I can do with such a small box. If Palm goes out on a limb a bit and depends on their third party developers, they can start selling their product as a laptop replacement, a use for which it is well suited in my view.
Scott

Get a Handspring already!

I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 1:36:06 AM #
The creative team left Palm a long time ago and that's why Palm can't create anything exciting. Get a Handspring already! =)

RE: Get a Handspring already!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 8:56:37 AM #
Amen!

RE: Get a Handspring already!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/10/2001 11:35:00 AM #
I can only assume that post was sarcasm because Handspring hasn't done anything exciting since they came out with the Springboard concept years ago.

RE: Get a Handspring already!
I.M. Anonymous @ 11/11/2001 12:03:57 AM #
Handspring? Have you see Donna's performance in Foxnews back in October (when she was excited to introduce the "NEW' product Treo)...

Honestly, Palm group (at least for Palm and handspring) need some major restructuring before shouting "we are number 1".....


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