EDS Ups the Ante: Massive COMDEX Project Rebuts Growing Trade Show Backlash

ITSMA preaches an anti-trade show line, suggesting that other marketing initiatives pack much more bang for the buck. And people have been listening. More and more services marketers have come to question the value of investing heavily in trade show presence. Why sit in the corner of a product-centered booth, waiting for leads that seldom arrive, and rarely pan out when they do show up? Much better to invest in media and analyst relations trying to build a buzz around new services offerings, targeted seminars to demonstrate thought leadership to business decision makers, and interactive tools for your Website.

Along comes EDS to challenge this emerging conventional wisdom. Three days ago (November 7), EDS announced the creation of a massive temporary metropolitan area network (MAN) to service all buyers and sellers at next weeks COMDEX/Fall 2000 show in Las Vegas. It’s a truly impressive undertaking, tying together more than 2,200 exhibitors, five separate conference venues, and 200,000 attendees. Working with Nortel Networks, Hewlett-Packard, and EMC, among other partners, EDS is assembling a high-speed fiber optic network capable of supporting demonstrations of real-time video, IP telephony, wireless mobility, and other new technologies. The project is a massive demonstration of EDS’s capability to pull together the latest networking technologies and services for some of the world’s most discriminating users.

Is it worthwhile? If glitzy booths don’t really make ROI sense for IT services firms, EDS seems to be saying (although they’ve got a huge one of those at COMDEX, too), let’s up the ante. We’ll change the game and sponsor the whole show. There certainly is a lot of precedent for this approach. EDS itself used the World Cup tourney a few years back to show off its latest offerings; IBM wired the Sydney Olympics. COMDEX is nothing if not the World Cup and Olympics of the tech world. And COMDEX itself appears to be moving toward a services focus. “COMDEX has collaborated with EDS to signal a growing focus at the show on the services community,” according to Bill Sell, VP and General Manager of COMDEX organizer Key3Media Events. “Services companies enhance the incredible hardware and software innovations available today.”

But how much brand equity, and how many qualified leads will really emerge from Las Vegas? Who’s missing the boat here, EDS, or the rest of us? What do you think, ITSMA members? Are trade shows back? Check out the EDS initiative at http://www.eds.com/comdex/metropolitan.shtml, then send us your thoughts.

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ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.