case study - turning the tables on a competitor 6-25-14-2
TRANSCRIPT
Case study:Turning the tables on a competitor: OracleJune 25, 2014June 25, 2014
Jeff CrossGlobal Competitive
Communications Lead &VP external relations, STG
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Oracle Has a History of Hyper-Aggressive Marketing
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More Oracle (Unsubstantiated) Claims
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Hyperbole on Oracle.com
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IBM Communications
We (Communications) are the department of reality, not the department of rah-rah
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Competitive marketing-communications at IBM
The art of competitive positioning is not saying negative things about competitors, but making them irrelevant through positive factshe art of competitive positioning is not saying negative things about competitors, but positioning them as irrelevant through positive facts.
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But what to do when media regurgitates Oracle's rhetoric?
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“Most of the claims are Oracle’s own benchmarks that are not published and audited. There are a small number of industry standard benchmarks -- and of course these are ones where it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to compare to other relevant results.”
– Benchmarking blog by Elisabeth Stahl–Oracle’s SPARC T5 and M5 Benchmarks: Lather, Rinse, Repeat
1st step: Quickly determine & publish the facts
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“When Ellison describes Sparc as the fastest chip in the world, he’s doing so based on one of these benchmarks: TPC-C. The sad reality, though, is that the system Oracle beat to get the top TPC-C score is a five-year-old computer from IBM.”
2nd step: Infiltrate Oracle's announcement coverage with off-the-record positioning & disgruntled customers
“We don't see our smaller customers and the Internet companies looking at Sparc aggressively,” said Alex Gorbachev, chief technology officer of Pythian, an Ottawa-based company that offers database consulting and related services.
Bloomberg: Oracle Unveils 'World’s Fastest Chip' in Bid to Save Sun Biz
The Wall Street Journal: Oracle Overhauls Server Line; New Machines Make Use of Sun Microsystems' Technology, Taking Aim at IBM
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1.Oracle’s latest benchmark claims compare their technology to five-year-old IBM POWER processor benchmarks. Oracle is "frozen in time"
2. It’s hard to believe Oracle’s rhetoric when the Better Business Bureau 3 times in 7 months that Oracle’s comparative product performance claims were unsupported & Oracle pulled the ads
3.Clients buy systems based on the business value of applications and the ability to manage new kinds of workloads, not benchmarks
3rd step: Develop key messages & use them consistently
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1. Promote client wins against Oracle
2. Position IBM products in a competitive context, portraying IBM systems as the leader in the workloads of the future, especially cloud and Big Data/analytics
3. Make sure influencers knew about IBM’s superior technology when addressing Oracle’s misleading claims (unaudited, Oracle's own tests)
4th: Be proactive (play offense) & stay on-message
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National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureaus recommended Oracle discontinue the ad, "SPARC SuperCluster T4-4 runs Oracle & Java Twice as Fast as IBM's Fastest Computer." http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/04/nad-recommends-oracle-discontinue-certain-comparative-pricing-claims-against-ibm/
NAD recommended Oracle discontinue the ad, “Exadata 20x Faster…Replaces IBM Again” and a “Giant European Retailer Moves Databases from IBM Power to Exadata…Runs 20 Times Faster.” http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/07/nad-finds-oracle-took-necessary-action-in-discontinuing-comparative-performance-claims-for-exadata-oracle-to-appeal-nad-decision/
NAD determined Oracle took necessary action in discontinuing ad, “5x Faster Than IBM … Or you win $10,000,000.” http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/11/nad-determines-oracle-acted-properly-in-discontinuing-performance-claim-couched-in-contest-language/
National Advertising Review Board rejected Oracle's appeal of a National Advertising Division ruling in regards to Oracle's ad, "Exadata 20X Faster." http://www.asrcreviews.org/2013/03/narb-finds-oracle-took-necessary-action-in-discontinuing-comparative-performance-claims-for-exadata/
5th: Cite Oracle's hyper-aggressive marketing
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Results: Earned media slams Oracle claims
InformationWeek: Oracle Sparc T5 Can't Make Sun Rise
The Wall Street Journal: IBM Fires Back at Oracle After Server Attacks
ServerWatch: Big Blue Strikes Back Against Oracle SPARC Power Claims
IBM To Larry Ellison: Your New Servers Aren't Faster Or Cheaper Than Ours
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Results: Wall Street analyst parrots key IBM message
“There appears to be a growing lack of trust around Oracle's positioning of its hardware products and the real world benefits of its systems vs. its marketing message.”
– Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore, April 1, in StreetInsider.com
StreetInsider.com:
Analyst Questions Oracle's (ORCL) Claims about High End Servers
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The verdict? IBM turned the tables on Oracle