this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Why TF is IBM advertising on X? They sell mainframes. Who is scrolling through X and thinks 'shit, I could really use a mainframe'?
IBM does WAYYY more than that my dude
I remember they used to own Lenovo. Ngl, I feel that it's thrived after it was sold, their Yoga line and novel products are very interesting.
They never owned Lenovo. They wanted to get rid of general consumer stuff which is costly both money and image wise. A mainframe company which invented the hard disk doesn't want their brand next to "death star". As a person who licensed OS/2 Warp 3 and even used ibm.net ISP, trust me they have no clue about little things.
Willing to admit my ignorance. Thanks for the info.
What IBM products do you own?
Cognos Analytics at work and like a lot of folks there's a cheap IBM server card in my media center supporting an array for network storage.
That's not counting the dozens of IBM products that are at the various levels of all the networks we travel through online.
And that's what they have adds for on X? Some software and hardware that's like 1% of their revenue? And they are one of the biggest add buyers? That's the insane part. It would make more sense for Samsung or apple to buy adds for phones or laptops, you know, things everyone uses. IBM doesn't have consumer products. Why are they spending so much money on X?
The whole premise of ads on Twitter is that they’re targeted.
IBM don’t sell consumer crap. They sell smoke and mirrors to major governments and industry. They’re chasing jobs worth millions per pop. They want ads to target the people making those decisions.
Actually I saw IBM consultant for a very large corp suggested Dell terminals while IBM end user things existed. For a modern mainframe, a PC is just a terminal emulator, browser (extensively used) and a development machine.
This would only make sense if targeting rich individuals was somehow significantly more expensive. They're showing ads to very small group of X users. Their ads cost the same as other ads. They should not be spending more than companies selling consumer products.
I think it's like those commercials you sometimes see like during a big sporting event or something where it's over and you're like - what company is that and why would I care? They really do sometimes put an ad out in front of millions of eyes knowing there are only a few dozen in the audience who would care. But those eyes have the power to make million dollar purchases for their companies.
But that's so inefficient-- what if half weren't paying attention? Just pick one or two, and send a $12M escort with beer to "win them over." Easier, and the money goes to people that deserve it instead of ad agencies.
They're also doing that when they know specific names and addresses but that isn't always the case. Lots of Americans watch the super bowl and there's a good chance a couple of them do million dollar purchases for what they sell or might do that in the near future.
Same reason why higher end car companies advertise heavily in league of legends which is played by mostly younger people who don't have much money yet. Sure there are some that can afford to buy those cars but also some kids who'll grow into careers where they eventually be able to afford those cars.
...they don't operate exclusively in the mainframe business?
What IBM products do you own?
You'd be amazed. They've directly or indirectly been contributors to open source pretty much since open source was a thing.
https://www.ibm.com/opensource/community-involvement/
Plus, you probably use several services that use IBM. Much like AWS, they aim to be a silent integral part of the infra and utilities of as many companies as possible. Lots of government involvement as well
Yeah, so what IBM products specifically did you buy? If they are buying ads it's to sell products. What products are they selling that X users will buy? What IBM products did you buy?
Your assumption that an Ad must be to sell a thing is false.
IBM engages in brand campaigns to simply get their name out there as a company that can do anything you need.
https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-02-16-With-Lets-create,-IBM-Launches-Brand-Campaign-to-Accelerate-Innovation-with-Clients-and-Partners
Yeah, I guess your right. Big companies like to throw money at online ad campaigns even when there's proof it doesn't do anything. Looks like IBM simply had some cash to burn and X looked like a nice furnace.
They posted ads to Twitter so you as a tax payer, bank client, decision maker know what IBM is and why your organization probably have chosen it. They started to make mainframes pretty looking. Do you really think a system guarded by armed security and even bullet proof windows which requires high end ear protective equipment and emergency oxygen support welcomes needless people around it? The milisecond IBM ad showed next to Nazi flag, they have gone for good.
IBM has almost left the sales sector completely. They're basically consultants to huge companies now. They found there was a lot more money in running financial companies datacenters.
And CEOs of those huge companies are influenced by X adds?
When there's a meeting and some higher up says "We need FOO to do BAR", and the middle manager glances over at the tech lead to answer, they're gonna say "I'll see what $CURRENT_PROVIDER has to offer." Then the middle manager will interject "Ah, and we'll check $COMPETITOR[0] to see if we can save some cash".
Those ads are aimed at making sure IBM is in the zeroeth index of the middle managers COMPETITOR array.
(Also making sure people who currently use IBM feel good about themselves)
as someone who learned c++ last week this feels like im reading and understanding hieroglyphs in an egyptian tomb
"it says... he who sets foot in this tomb shall perish... and then a bunch of uninitialized variables"
Do you not understand how ads work? It’s about making sure that IBM is the first company that comes to mind when you think about potential suppliers for an upcoming project.
It’s no different than ads for Coca Cola. You know what Coke tastes like. An ad isn’t going to materially influence whether you like it or not. However, it attempts to keep the name present in your mind so the first thing that pops into your head on a hot day is a nice cold Coke.
Ok, I guess it's possible they simply had to much money in the marketing division and were throwing money at X just to prop up the value of IBM brand, not to actually sell products. IBM's brand has been loosing value fast in the recent years so maybe they are just desperate? Of course this will have no impact at their revenue. Not showing ads on X will just save them money.
It's also possible you don't understand all the reasons companies advertise
IBM is huge.
But bro what IBM products do you own?
They serve companies more than consumers.
Their bank and credit card worth is secured, guarded and allowed by an IBM mainframe which is generally geographically distinct 2 mainframes or more. They do parallel processing 100 KMs apart. It is not clear who owns who.
Anyone using X and seeing it's shitty mainframe and thinking - wait, could that be me?