Toby Bell

Gartner has published Cool Vendor reports across various technology markets for years. We’ve recently delivered presentations about Cool Vendors in the High Performance Workplace and Content Management at a number of PCC (Portals, Content, Collaboration) Summit events. While the content was interesting, the format was decidely less so.

In the spirit of better engaging our audiences by leveraging social media, I contacted all of our most recent Cool Vendor designees with the following message:

“We are giving a main stage presentation about Cool Vendors in September’s PCC Summit in Los Angeles, CA and you are invited to participate.

Here’s Why: In the past, we hosted a breakfast session at our Portal, Collaboration, and Content Summit events during which several analysts described their Cool Vendor nominees and then linked to the relevant Web site or shared some screen captures. Despite the often static nature of the material presented as well as varying degrees of analyst enthusiasm and ability, a relatively high degree of audience satisfaction was nonetheless achieved. It would be nice if we could package and present a better show – as well as a better showcase for your product.

Here’s How: You may already have plans to attend the Gartner PCC Summit, but I won’t suggest you join us on stage. That could represent a conflict of interest if our audience feels we are directly promoting some (but not all) vendors. Instead, I am suggesting that we leverage a social media tactic that virtually everyone is familiar with – YouTube. Ideally, you would upload a 2-5 minute product presentation directly there (and deal with comments from public and competitors). But that may not suit everyone, so instead I’ll also allow a media file to be created and delivered via CD or through file transfer or by other means.

A simple guideline is to provide a mixed business/technology audience a summary of your company and product features, advantages, and benefits (FAB). Showcase the essential information (“and, what’s more, our car runs on tap water alone”) in a format much like an infomercial… but perhaps slightly less annoying. You can use spokesmodels, celebrity/customer endorsements, world-class production values, and puffery. No direct competitor comparisons, please. Our audience will get a chance to vote on which product (not video) seems most likely to stimulate their buying interest in the next 12 months. I reserve the right on behalf of Gartner to reject submissions that violate the spirit of the presentation, exceed the time constraint, unfairly position the product, or any number of other possible objections which I hope not to have to detail in some fine print somewhere. This is meant to be fun.”

The response was significant. Of the nine vendors contacted, seven were able to quickly compile a well-conceived and well-delivered media file that covered the key value proposition, stayed above the deeply technical, and engaged the audience effectively. And, within a 2-3 minute timeframe. This is very good news for analysts, buyers, and other interested parties who otherwise often find themselves subjected to several hour-long segments of technobabble and marketspeak from competitive vendors only then to have to consider relative verisimilitude.

We’re going to challenge all vendors to consider posting a 2-3 minute YouTube presentation. Within a couple of years, the short form product pitch should become a standard in the marketing arsenal. And the dialogue surrounding Cool Vendors and their value will affect our research much more substantially. Moreover, we’ll enlarge our radar screen to see a bigger vendor landscape than before.

Here’s a link to a couple of Cool Vendor presentations on YouTube:

Visible Technologies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uf_rq1Q6Gg

Spigit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0vfSghBYAc

Toby Bell’s Recent Gartner Research

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Category: Somewhat Serious Uncategorized     Tags: Cool Vendors, Gartner, PCC, Presentations, YouTube

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