Lotus Symphony: Crescendo is here to help

August 20 2008

Here's a fantastic five minute flash highlighting Lotus Symphony.  Wait -- no, it can't be .... we actually show the product!  And address key concerns and objections decision-makers would have about using Lotus Symphony!  And have fun in the process, in a way that actually connects!

Image:Lotus Symphony: Crescendo is here to help

"Crescendo" is the name of a project around Symphony that my team is leading.  They'd love to hear from you if your company is rolling out Symphony.  Contact me and I'll pass you along.

Link: Lotus Symphony: Crescendo is here to help >

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotus Symphony  Add/View Comments [19]

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  1. 1  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 8/20/2008 9:02:01 AM

    A truer Lotus video in the more formal sense, including the wave/yellow themes, and with actual shots of the apps too!

    Would have been nice to show R8 and it's integration or even a LND icon for the connectivity but that may not have been the purpose of this ad. Maybe next one.

    Hits some good points too.

    The comic book thing before and after are kind of wasted to me but I can see the reasoning behind it.

    The narrator has as no excitement in his voice which is a shame, don't you want people to get excited?

  1. 2  Chris Whisonant http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/lotusnut | 8/20/2008 9:03:10 AM

    So will Crescendo be like the MS Office paper clip dude?!? :)

  1. 3  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 8/20/2008 9:45:01 AM

    "IN A WORLD..." { Link }

    Awesome. But next time, drop the extra coin and get Don LaFontaine to actually do the voiceover.

    Crescendo even looks a little like you, Ed.

    Only problem with the product shots is the fonts in the property bar is off. It wouldn't be a big deal, except that you zoom in on them.

    Still, all in all, this is a huge leap forward. Big props on emphasizing ODF, too!

  1. 4  Bruce Elgort http://elguji.com | 8/20/2008 9:51:16 AM

    The video reminds me of the movies I used to watch in grade school or better yet at a museum. Viral it is not. Maybe something for the old school CIO's I suspect?

  1. 5  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 8/20/2008 10:16:58 AM

    @3 funny it hought it looked more like Alan Lepofsky :-)

  1. 6  Pete McPhedran http://www.corefusion.com | 8/20/2008 10:54:46 AM

    Very well done, I have to agree that the voice over guy is dull in such an exciting looking presentation. Too bad Mussie Shore left, he would have been good for the voice over!

    --Pete

  1. 7  Erik Brooks  | 8/20/2008 2:58:44 PM

    Very nice! My $0.02:

    - The text "IBM" in the opening few seconds isn't completely vertically aligned with "Lotus Symphony". It's a few pixels too tall before it flies away.

    - The "IBM Lotus Symphony" text in the upper-right of the player should be a link. There's nothing to click on that takes you to a product page until the very end of the flash.

    - The "IBM" link in the upper-left of the player doesn't seem to work either.

    @5 - I'm with you. :-)

  1. 8  Erik Brooks  | 8/20/2008 2:59:40 PM

    Whoops - my "few pixels too tall" should've been "few pixels to high".

  1. 9  Dale Cybela  | 8/20/2008 3:18:28 PM

    The question is not how good it is, but who can we get to watch it.

  1. 10  Chris Reckling http://blogs.tap.ibm.com/weblogs/lotusux/ | 8/20/2008 3:31:59 PM

    @3 - looks like Linux to me. I've seen that before - the title bar, too.

    Chris

  1. 11  Colin Williams  | 8/20/2008 4:30:42 PM

    Odd fonts aside (lesson: make videos on pristine machines), this is a great summary of Symphony. Showed it to my wife and shes like "wow, why don't we have that on our machine yet?".

  1. 12  Rob McDonagh http://www.CaptainOblivious.com | 8/20/2008 5:42:47 PM

    A qualified success. Beats the heck out of the last few we've seen.

    The Good:

    Be Free. Work Smart.

    Showing the product. The actual product! Somebody probably had to revive Nathan when that came on screen.

    The Not-So-Good:

    Comic books plus CxO-speak buzzwords? So CxOs are the target? Ordinary LOB management types hate CxO-speak, so it can't be aimed at them. Do CxOs like comic books? Not saying they don't, just curious. Is that pairing due to the popularity of superhero movies?

    "Poof" when Crescendo appears - Um, no.

    All that talk about customizing the UI? There must be a trick to that, because I've been trying to get rid of that @#$%^ properties pane ever since I loaded the first version... Still, sounds good to people who haven't tried the product yet. They might be a bit peeved when they realize it's an exercise in creative writing, though.

    Not showing the product until halfway through the movie. Too slow, I bet you lose a lot of people before they see the product itself.

  1. 13  Erik Brooks  | 8/20/2008 8:37:35 PM

    @12 - Interesting point, about seeing the product halfway in.

    A 60-second version might be interesting to see. Maybe something upbeat, quick, getting straight to the power points. Link it to a banner ad on /. and I could see some serious interest.

    @Ed - can you tell us how this is being distributed/advertised?

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 8/20/2008 8:43:57 PM

    @13 it's viral of course :) It's mentioned on the symphony.lotus.com home page, but at the moment, I'm not aware of any other plans. I found out about it from a colleague earlier today. I realize there's more we could do to get it visibility, even without the "A" (advertising) word.

  1. 15  Alan Lepofsky http://www.alanlepofsky.net | 8/20/2008 9:39:44 PM

    Since everyone is being picky, I will admit that I thought it was funny that the document "Quarterly Report Final" was blank. ;-) Also, they should not have used only $ signs when mentioning no charge. That said, I'll happily try the gold version when it is available for Mac.

  1. 16  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 8/21/2008 4:28:58 AM

    Two words: 30 seconds. Only the choir will listen longer than 30 seconds.

  1. 17  Brett Hershberger  | 8/21/2008 11:14:52 AM

    @16 I completely agree with you.

    Yes way too long, This was made by the choir for the choir... again.

    To me, it looks like more of the same great work but unfortunately misguided. Cartoons? A super hero? "Poof"?

    The general cheeze factor is way too high, it'll get laughed at. You have to wait too long to see the product, and even then it's for a second or two.

    Not sure what they were going for but, I don't think this is viral-worthy enough to appeal to anyone outside of the yellowverse.

  1. 18  Scott Hooks http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/hooks | 8/21/2008 1:44:08 PM

    I don't think this would influence a decision maker. The message needs to be "just as good as Microsoft office but free" and "all of your current document formats are supported" and "you can continue to use these formats if you wish." And yes, in 30 seconds with some high energy pop that grabs attention. So that the exec thinks "Damn! Why wouldn't we at least take a look at this?"

  1. 19  NeilT  | 8/21/2008 2:00:00 PM

    I thught about commenting on this. Swayed around a few times but decided to chip in anyway.

    I'm not sure I agree with Volker about 30 seconds, but I would say you have 30 seconds to grab the attention and pin it back so you can continue.

    For those who don't know what we're all going on about, Any Native British English speaker is going to think bullet 2 { Link } when they see "Poof".

    I once worked on a project where we said "5 people divided by a common language". There are pitfalls everywhere for the unwary.

    As for the graphics... Well I can see why they were taken on Linux. Because on Windows on my 1440x900 screen the frames and tabs are ABSOLUTLEY HUGE and simply look horrible.

    Symphony may be a success, but only because it's free. I doubt anyone will seriously Love it. I know I say this every time, but from comments I have received I'm not the only one who feels this way.