Marketing to the Feds at FOSE

Marketing to the Feds at FOSE

The FOSE show this year as a whole was not anything to write home about; many from the circles that The Marketing Consigliere knows avoided it this year. Nevertheless he wanted to see if any net-centric marketing products or services were being “Fed-peddled.” It seemed like every fifth booth either was some sort of document imaging and management platform or a device for shredding hard drives.

But in this decent B2B (or rather B2G) show, there was a glimmer of net-centricity.  There was still a military marketing presence, but the C4ISR The Marketing Consigliere means is the marketing type of course, not the military. Of particular note:

Turning Technologies, LLC featured a great enhancement for Microsoft PowerPoint – their TurningPoint audience response system integrates within the PowerPoint application and allows audiences to participate in presentations by submitting real-time responses to questions using a credit-card sized keypad. The keypad transmits the answer to a USB device which plugs into the presenter’s laptop or desktop. The data can be saved and plotted for later or shown to the crowd. Barry Gromada, one of their Account Executives, was gracious enough to give me a quick demonstration. It seems it could be a great tool for gathering data in a network-centric way.

Vovici

Vovici, whose advertisements have prolifereated the major marketing trade publications, was at FOSE touting their “Enterprise Feedback Management” capabilities. Their online survey capabilities have come a long way from when I dealt with them as a company called WebSurveyor. The robustness and ease of use has improved. The Marketing Consigliere loves the application, but hates (after all, he’s a Consigliere) how they mangle up the pronunciation of their name (they say “vo-vee-see,” not the “vo-vee-chee” that Italians and Latin enthusiasts would naturally think – how much did they pay a branding consultancy for that fiasco? – not pronounced “fee-as-so!”). But don’t worry, Vovicisti (vo-vee-chee-stee), The Marketing Consigliere will try to leverage your application in the future and recommend others to do the same…

MURV

Physical Optics Corporation gave him his “Aha!” moment when he spoke to Jim Apple, the Director of BizDev (Homeland Security). They have a camera and lighting mounted on a briefcase-sized robotic platform that can used to inspect the underside of motor vehicles for explosives. The image quality of the video was quite impressive. (Note: The Marketing Consigliere couldn’t find a graphic on their website and has substituted a similar robot for illustrative purposes)

 

Why not use this platform at stadium or mall parking lots and conduct “courtesy inspections” of visitors’ automobiles? Working with the customer, a Jiffy Lube or Meineke or even an independent could make a digital video of underneath a customer’s car or truck, make a quick diagnosis to see if there are transmission or oil pan leaks, etc., and then wirelessly schedule an appointment. Or if the customer is not around, leave a little card with a unique URL in the windshield for them to go to later to see the video for themselves. It could be a great publicity stunt and possibly generate business for the company that has the wherewithal to execute.

Is there anyone out there who could monetize on this C4ISR Marketing idea?

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