Application service provider Interliant Inc., Purchase, NY, has tapped Omnicom Group's DDB Worldwide advertising agency in New York to launch its multimillion dollar We Sell Sanity marketing campaign targeting corporate executives.
The campaign is being characterized as one harnessing “direct customer outreach” using traditional brand and solution-focused advertising. The company said its strategy is designed to “navigate the e-hype” that surrounds ASPs by focusing on the key benefits of its service model and to communicate to executives beyond the information technology community “how selecting the right partner can transform the daunting IT challenge into a simple, pleasurable experience.”
DDB Worldwide's effort is comprised largely of direct print campaigns placed in national business dailies and weeklies as well as information technology trade media. It also includes an online component aimed primarily at executives through business Web sites including internet.com, nytimes.com, CNET.com and TechWeb.com.
According to Kim Crane, senior vice president of marketing at Interliant, “To date, ASP marketing efforts have focused on selling technologies instead of business solutions. This campaign focuses on conveying Interliant's ASP business benefits to the real decision makers in the corporate world.”
Crane said the company is the leading ASP in the market and intends to stay that way.
“We invented the ASP model, delivering the first hosted application services in January 1994; others did not arrive on the scene until 1997,” she said. According to Crane, the company is moving aggressively to broaden its applications solutions and further increase its profile among senior corporate officers with the “We Sell Sanity” message because “they are now key stakeholders in IT decision making. It's why we are targeting audiences beyond the IT function.”
