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The Amtower B2G Market Report Volume 4, #21, May 23, 2005 This newsletter is only sent to those who request it. Sign up for your free subscription at http://www.FederalDirect.net and if you like this newsletter, please pass it along to your colleagues. To unsubscribe, see directions below. The newsletter is posted each Monday at www.FederalDirect.net, and the latest "Off-Center Observations" is on the home page. All back issues available at http://www.federaldirect.net/newsletterarchives.html) AMTOWER OFF-CENTER OBSERVATIONS Item: I hear attendance was down at the CIO Summit in Florida last week, but if you attended the Market Connections briefing on May 16 (an overview of the 5th Annual Federal IT Marketing Report), you would not have been surprised. One finding of the study is that attendance at most larger events (conferences and trade shows) is down. Download the Executive Summary at www.MarketConnectInc.com, or better yet, buy the full report. This is money well spent. And even though it is an IT study, the results apply for Feds who buy just about anything. Subscribe to the Market Connections monthly e-newsletter while you are there. Item (from reader Johnny Wilkinson regarding an email from GovSec): What do you think about the marketing angle used here? The subject line (Recent Capitol Evacuation a Reminder to Attend GOVSEC 2005) is what concerns me. I do not think the evacuation reminded people to attend the event. I think the evacuation probably frightened people, not made them think about an IT show. I am all for using current events to highlight the timeliness of IT needs, but this was not executed well, in my opinion. Amtower comments: Agreed – it would be better to say something like Recent Evacuation In DC Is Why We Have GovSec. The text of the message was better, explaining the media questions on what happened, mis-communications between agencies, and the like. But subject lines are the most important part of the message as they determine who, if anyone, opens the message. Item: Juniper continues to think out of the box. Last Thursday Juniper rented a movie theatre in Bethesda for an early show of Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. Over 50 attendees showed up before the 6:45 AM registration time, and more after. One attender wrote: It was a lively fun event with no sales presentation - but just a quick 4 minute flash demo running right before the movie - which received applause as it was a Star Wars type demo that had the little Juniper rocket man shooting the big bad ship that was Cisco - and showed it falling down off the screen - gotta love it! Amtower comment: Sorry I missed this one. I will find out how many attendees were Feds (this gratuity would be inside the ethical limit – even with popcorn) and report more on this soon. I love the Juniper cartoons (a la The Farside) and the entire campaign. It takes guts to champion a program like this. Not that I have an opinion.
I am really looking for some feedback here. What are your favorite space ads, radio spots, etc. Let me know. Item: Is it just me, or on WFED when they have Ask The CHCO (Chief Human Capital Officer, pronounced Cheeko), are you waiting to hear the voice of Chico Marx? Whas a matta for you? Item: Raytheon has joined the ranks of those using WFED radio spots. Although I think it is a dull spot, at least they are out there. Also joining the ranks is Booz Allen Hamilton, which puts a new spin on the radio spots. The Booz Allen spot starts with what appears to be an interview, which you can listen to in its entirety at the web site, www.FederalNewsRadio.com. I would be interested to know if this gets traffic, because I like the idea. Booz Allen also showed up in the Market Connections study, and apparently few integrators have strong name recognition. Anteon is leading the charge – at least for themselves – to change this. There are lots of B2G spots on several stations, among them WFED, WTOP, and WMET. Some are good, some not so good, some way too serious, and some beg the question: Who Wrote This Stuff?
FY 2005 (Oct-Mar) Total: $8,147,745,145.24 FY 2004 (Oct-Mar) Total: $7,980,077,000 We are ahead about $165,000,000, with 450,000 fewer transactions and 11,000 fewer cardholders. Order size is up over $40 to $672. Beware of the schlock vendors, producing “black hole” events, events that eat your money with no significant return! EVENTS LISTED BELOW ARE WORTH ATTENDING: May 23-24: Small Business Procurement Conference, Oklahoma City, http://www.fbcinc.com/wvo2005/ May 25-26: GovSec, Washington DC Convention Center, National Trade Productions, www.GovSecInfo.com June 1, FBI Academy Vendor Fair, Jefferson Dormitory - Crossroads Lounge Quantico, Virginia http://www.fbcinc.com/event.asp?eventid=Q6UJ9A008SS0 June 2, US Geological Survey Technology Expo, USGS HQ, Reston, VA June 7-9: FedFleet, Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center Nashville, TN; conference, workshops, training opportunities. If you are involved directly or indirectly in planes, boats or automobiles, this is the place to be. Online registration is available for attendees and exhibitors at www.fedfleet.org or you can register by phone at 1-800-315-4333. June 9, US Dept of State Small Business Fair June 13-14, 2005 (Exhibits June 13) Creating Electronic Records Management (ERM) within Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS), Cafritz Conference Center, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC (Foggy Bottom Metro Stop) www.digitalgovernment.com June 14-16 Illinois Tech Expo Series: 14th – Chicago Federal Building, 15th – Argonne National Lab, 16th-Rock Island Arsenal. http://www.fbcinc.com/ June 15, NSA – FANX Complex http://www.fbcinc.com/event.asp?eventid=Q6UJ9A005UAI Oct 18, 2005 4th Annual Veterans Business Training and Outreach Conference www.veteransconference.com Nov 9, The 4th Annual B2G Catalog Summit; Renaissance Chicago O'Hare, 8600 West Bryn Mawr Ave, Chicago IL 60631; details coming soon!
As always, your comments, questions and suggestions are welcome. Thanks The Amtower B2G Market Report is published by Amtower & Company, and is written for companies targeting the government marketplace. The opinions expressed are those of Mark Amtower unless otherwise noted. Contact us at Amtower & Company, PO Box 314, Highland, MD 20777-0314 (301-924-0058). This material is copyrighted and may not be duplicated, reprinted or otherwise replicated without written permission of the publisher. Email subscriptions are free by request: sign up at www.FederalDirect.net |
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