Amtower - Not that I have an opinion....

Trade Show Season

The big shows are rapidly approaching - FOSE, GovSec, some AFCEA events. What are you doing when they call? How do they fit into your marketing mix - or do they fit into your marketing mix?

Do the big shows really support your sales goals? Or are you still swallowing the "you have to be here" line - or worse, did your CEO or GM swallow it?

ANY event you exhibit at should have both stragetic and tactical value.

Tell me what your favorite events are - and why.

Not that I have an opinion.

Amtower

www.FederalDirect.com

A new, "unique" ad agency

And now for something complete different - a "unique" ad agency (as if...): From the Yahoo biz alerts:

"New Media Agency FaceTime Strategy Launches Operations in DC
Washington, DC -- Billing itself as the first public relations and marketing agency to focus solely on the Internet, DC-based FaceTime Strategy said that it officially has launched its operations. The firm, founded by local broadcast executive Todd Mason, plans to use viral
marketing tools, targeted online advertisements and social networking to help companies more effectively launch campaigns. Though FaceTime said that its particular sector of the public relations and advertising industry currently represents just 2.5% of the $602 billion market, it said that new media is projected to triple in the coming year, according to industry analysts. "Unlike traditional PR campaigns, new media can shift focus quickly and effectively to impact a chosen target audience in a meaningful manner," said Christopher Yoko the managing director of FaceTime's DC operations."

Back to my commentary:  - Alright....the 'first' marketing and PR firm focusing on the internet. So Geoff Livingston of LivingstonBuzz focuses on rumor and innuendo? Geoff focuses on WOM, blogs, creating internet buzz, and social networking. Which would make him first.

I get the distinct feeling these guys are from out of town and are unfamiliar with the ad agency/pr landscape. It will be interesteing to see if they try to get B2G business.

Not that I have an opinion.

www.FederalDirect.com

The First Annual AMMIES -part 2 of FY in review

In Washington, DC, a town where ad agencies (well OK, one ad agency) give itself awards, where federal agencies award small business contracts to $2 billion companies (Army ITES 2 contract to WorldWide Tech), where members of Congress toss sound-bites in search of media headlines (in the hopes that those in the media know less than they do on the subject of the day), where lobbyists spend massive amounts of not-so-hard earned money in the hopes of influencing those in charge of the world's greatest democracy to act in favor of special interests (and are often rewarded), where self-serving behavior seems so, so, mundane - there is one voice, crying out in the wilderness - announcing the Good, the Bad, the Ugly, the Silly, the Stupid and the overly Self-Serving.

The AMMIES, suggested by a number of people, these will be my annual awards in several categories. As with most of my awards, there is no dinner, no plaque, just recognition - probably not desired by the awardees- for a job, well, done (as in finished). Here are the first annual AMMIES in newly minted categories.

The Chalk Outline on the Government Contract Boulevard award goes to…..BestBuyGov (please, hold your applause). In 2004 Best Buy announced its government program by launching a wholly owned subsidiary, BBG. The major selling point seemed to be … the convenience of in store pick up….Since that time, BBG has made a huge splash at a number of events, including FOSE, with HUGE bags, belly-wraps around all of the visible publications, a big booth and the like, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on hoopla. The result: GSA 2006 $0, GSA 2007 $57,872. Then, with little fanfare, it seems as if they have vacated the market and set the BBG staff free to seek new opportunities. I have written about this and other big name companies coming into the VAR space before (I wrote about Sears Business Systems, GE Capital IT Federal Solutions in my first book): big brand names mean little in this market. Skill, experience and execution matter here. Want proof? See the next award...

The Do Not Pull On Supermans Cape award goes to….Carahsoft Technology. Industry veteran Craig Abod announced the launch of Carahsoft about the same time BBG started up. Carahsoft, self-funded and with no big brand name, did $2.2 million in FY 2005 on GSA, $12.8 million in FY 2006 on GSA, and $33 million (reported so far) for FY 2007. But by all reports, total government sales for Carahsoft in 2007 will be closer to $200 million in total revenue, because they have experience, sales people as opposed to order takers, and a honcho with a serious clue. Well done, Mr Abod.

The You Can Lead a Horse to Water award goes to the GSA IG and his staff - all of whom seem convinced that industry is evil and full of folks out to screw Uncle Sam at every turn. None of these people seem to have ANY grasp on standard industry business practices, not do they seem to understand that selling to the government is BY FAR the most expensive business sales process anywhere. This is resulting in the migration AWAY from the Schedules by major manufacturers (three so far and more lining up). This event revisits the disaster of 1994 when a GSA lawyer had the same basic mis-informed ideas. Myopia at its worst – and it is hurting everyone, starting with Mr Williams and his team that have to operate within the confines defined by the myopic and seemingly paranoid IG.

And finally the Congressional Methane Production award goes to …. Senator Chuck Grassley and staff for either drinking the same Kool-Aid as the IG, or supplying it. While I admire Grassley in that he seeks to reduce government waste, he is not, by any measure Bill Proxmire of the Golden Fleece award. Grassley displays the uncanny ability to cut through the issue and miss the point completely. Again, what is on display here is the inability to grasp standard industry business practices coupled with the desire to garner as many headlines as possible, thereby producing as much methane. And there are few better in Congress than Grassley at garnering an inordinate number of headlines backed by an inadequate knowledge of the subjects.

I was going to give the Biggest Coffee Can Buried in a Backyard award to Senator Stevens of Alaska, but that is old news.

These awards were chosen by a committee of one, in a basement office, with no outside input sought or desired, while I was on my third cup of coffee. Should you take umbrage at any or all of these awards, feel free to umbrage away – preferably away from me.

End of FY Observations, part 1

2007 has been an interesting year in the federal market. As in the early 1990s, we have seen some overzealous government folks - notably the myopic GSA IG and staff- interpret rules in a way that defies every known business practice and start a migration of major manufacturers off GSA Schedule. This is exacerbated by the senator from Iowa, Charles Grassley, who seems to think all contractors are evil out to cheat Unlce Sam whenever they can. Grassley seems to want to become the Bill Proxmire (of Golden Fleece fame - if you don't know the allusion, google Bill Proxmire) of current Congress. Well, Senator, you don't have the stature and integrity Bill Proxmire brought to the table, and you seem to be little more than a headline chasing methane producer.

This is all further exacerbated by the alleged mainstream media, led by an idiot boy at the NY Times, which published a story early in the year about "the revolving door of government service." While parts of the story were indeed accurate, the Times either did not know (which makes them stupid) or did not care (which makes them lazy and dangerous) the people they were writing about were ALL APPOINTEEs - not career Feds. They did not seem to know - or care about - the difference. Appointees are generally worthless (in government roles) idiots who impede an agency's ability to perform its mandated duties - often by design. For example, EPA and Interior, under Bush, have suffered massive internal morale problems that go largely un-reported. You want to get rid of the revolving door? Get rid of the 8,000 or so appointees (political payoff jobs) the president gets to send to the executive branch to impede the business of the country.

While there will be more soon, let me leave on this note: I got an email this AM with the subject line "Travel to Las Vegas and Complete Your GSA Proposal." How appropriate - as a GSA Schedule is becoming more of a crap shoot every day.

Give Me Your Best Ideas...Cheap

For the 2nd year in a row O'Keeffe and Co is sponsoring a best PR idea contest a la American Idle. There is nothing wrong with this and everything right - for O'Keeffe & Co. People provide them their best PR ideas to compete for $5,000 - and o'Keeffe, very inexpensively, gets some great PR ideas it can then use for its clients.

Great work if you can get it.

Not that i have an opinion.

Avoid Social Network Quechup (pronounced cow-chip)

Quechup is a social networking site. I received an invitation to join it today from a business magazine editor I have an email relationship with. When I clicked on the invitation, and started to click on the web site, McAfee warned me that this was a "very spammy" site. So I emailed the editor an alternative - to join me on LinkedIn.

He emailed back and said that Quechup has stolen his email address book and was sending out invitations in his name. Anti-social networking.

Avoid Quechup like the plaque it seems to be. Don't step in any cow chips.

Not that I have an opinion.

Amtower

www.FederalDirect.com

Shifting Landscape in Federal Trade Press

Jill Aitoro, the editor of Government VAR (CMP, part of VAR Business & CRN) is moving to Gov Exec. Jill has grown into a solid journalist and has bothered to learns lots about this market in the last couple years. She is a great addition to the GovExec staff. This will make Gov Exec's coverage of the SI/VAR market much better (well, it would make it great compared to what they have now) and it will make them more competitive with 1105.

And speaking of 1105...

Rumor is that 1105 Government Media is ready to make another acquisition. I have heard from 2 sources that the acquisition will possibly be an event company, but neither was in a position to be positive or to know which event company was in play. The significant players in that fioeld are (in order of size & presence) Federal Business Council, NCSI, and Digital Government Institute. If it is an event company, I would wager on NCSI, for no other reason than instinct.  That does not make it the best acquisition by any criteria.

Not that I have an opinion.

A Tale of two VARs

In 2004, two companies selling information technology entered the B2G market. One had huge resources backed by a Fortune 100 (number 72 in 2007) company, the other had a guy with tremendous experience, but not much in the way of resources. David and Goliath.

In the summer of 2005, Goliath comes out publicly in an interview in Government VAR stating it is rolling out a GSA Schedule, web site, plans to and partner with small businesses. It also claimed to have strong military sales. David, meanwhile, very quietly had struck bargains with a select group of manufacturers and started building sales teams for each product line it chose to represent.

The results, as seen through the GSA Schedule:

2005: David - $2.2 million; Goliath - no Schedule

2006: David - $12.8 million; Goliath - $0

YTD 2007: David - $23.4 million; Goliath - $39,198

Total revenues for David, as reported in CRN magazine (July 9, 2007): 2004 $3.6 million 2005: $36 million 2006: $91 million 2007: (gathered by snooping, rumor and innuendo) approaching $200 million.

In this issue of CRN, David, aka Carahsoft, placed second in The Fast Growth 100, second only to Groupware Technology of San Francisco. Carahsoft, is run by perhaps the best salesperson in this market, Craig Abod. All Carahsoft revenue is government, and the ramp is $0-200 million in sales in four years. As I predicted in VAR Wars 2004, Craig Abod has returned to take his place in the top tier of government resellers.

http://federaldirect.net/offwhite23.html

My next prediction for Carahsoft - $500 million in FY 2009.

Goliath, AKA Best Buy Government, recently announced a change of management in its Government subsidiary. While Best Buy cannot be called a true VAR, it is the category it fits best, at least by description, and it does have a contract through GSA Schedule 70. You could not tell it was a VAR by the results after four years in the market and two years on Schedule.

Can small companies win in the government market? You bet. What does it take? Stamina, intelligence, knowing what the government is buying and how to sell it to them.

Not that I have an opinion.

Bye Bye Best Buy (Gov)?

Word on the street is the top team at Best Buy Gov is no longer there. No confirmation of this - yet - but it begs the question: what the heck were they (BB) thinking?

BB (admittedly, far from my personal favorite) is a consumer giant, but that does not easily or often (ever?) translate into government business. Sears tried in the early 1990s and flopped, and they are far from alone. Most of the products in a BB store would not even be Trade Compliant. The BBGov early stated strategy was "the convenience of in-store pick up" - convenience? When CDWG will deliver it to you NEXT DAY?!?!?

The next obvious problem is BB is a large publicly traded company. Government business is not great for publicly traded companies as far as Wall Street is concerned (unless most of the company's business is government) because of the quarter-to-quarter mentality of the street and the inability of any company to predict on a quarterly basis what the government will do.

So, how does this impact the government market, especially the channel? It doesn't, as BB had yet to make any discernable impact in the market, aside from handing out bags at FOSE a couple months back that would qualify as luxury apartments in China because they were so big.

Anyone going to miss them? Not me.

Not that I have an opinion.

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New Conde Nast marketing magazine

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/ivtnrdi9ge" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

Has anyone besides me opened the new Conde Naste Portfolio (a marketing publication, first issue just came out) and been blown away - by the smell?

I don't mind being blown away by content, but when I open a marketing publication and a perfume sample emanates from within, I am immediately suspect.

After recuperating from the smell (I will not say scent), I read a few of the articles and found them, at best, facile.

I give this magazine one year, max, before it folds.

Not that I have an opinion.