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Video: The Nortel Robot

By Bo Gowan August 26, 2008 11:33 am EDT

We’re going to have some fun on Buzzboard this week and next, and it requires a little participation by you.  We recently put a call out to all Nortel employees, asking them to create their own “homemade” videos that highlight Nortel’s green and energy efficiency benefits.  The response was tremendous, and so were the videos.

We asked people to create these completely on their own, in their spare time, with absolutely no help (or budget) — so I wasn’t expecting much by way of quality. Boy was I wrong.  We have some creative and talented people at Nortel for sure, and you’re going to get to see their work. Starting today through Thursday, I’m going to post one employee-created video each day for your viewing pleasure.

Then the fun starts — next Tuesday I’ll post two brand new Nortel commercials (professional ones), bringing the video tally to five, and you’ll get to vote for your favorite video among all of them.  Will the masses like the slick, professionally-created ads, or the YouTube-style spot that a random Nortel employee created at home on her Mac?  That’s for you to decide.

And here’s the really cool part.  Whichever video wins the vote will be used as an actual online ad as part of Nortel’s online advertising campaign.  So as they say, “your vote counts!”

Come back daily to see a new video, then we will open the voting next Tuesday, Sept 2nd when you’ll also get a chance to see our new Nortel commercials.  You can also go to the main page for this video voting contest to keep up.

Below is the first video for you to watch.  It’s called The Nortel Robot. This fully animated piece follows a lonely robot as he finds an energy efficient Nortel oasis in a dark and dreary future world.  Comments on the video are encouraged.

Categories: Commentary, Enterprise, Industry News
Tags: , Trackbacks (2)

Trackbacks/Pings

  1. […] profile, run by Texas-based employee Bo Gowan. He also manages the Nortel Buzzboard blog, where he explains in a post today that the “Robot” spot is the first of a series of videos he will be posting that were […]

    August 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm from Canadian Business Blog » Blog Archive » Nortel’s Terminator

  2. […] you have to wonder about the latest social media initiative in which Nortel has asked employees to create “homemade” videos to put the spotlight on […]

    August 27th, 2008 at 7:30 am from Nortel Unveils DIY Videos

Comments

  1. Hey Bo,

    What about addressing the stock price? You are at a NEW LOW and the stock price keeps falling, so instead of having some fun for the next two weeks, lets spend some time to address the degrading stock price — lets start by addressing why upper management is selling stock instead of buying.

    August 26th, 2008 at 11:52 am by nick

  2. Nick - there are already ongoing conversations on other Buzzboard posts about earnings, specifically on this 2Q08 earnings post: http://tinyurl.com/5jbrvh

    We can have that conversation there, but let’s leave this post for the contest.

    August 26th, 2008 at 11:57 am by Bo Gowan

  3. Oh Yeah…we’re having a ball on Buzzboard…get real, Bo. people care about the surviveabilty of the stock…not some ROBOT!

    August 26th, 2008 at 12:06 pm by bay

  4. Who’s the guy with the bald yellow head?

    August 26th, 2008 at 12:21 pm by andy

  5. That’s me with the chopsticks in my hair.
    I love this post Bo - thanks for sharing it.

    August 26th, 2008 at 12:55 pm by April

  6. Realy creative and nice. To the point.

    Bo, with the stock today hitting all times low, everyone looks at this blog for answers. The Vid is great but very misplaced. Is your sales team translating any of this hype into actual meaningful wins? can you defend and claim your are energy efficient across all product lines? Do you think Energy efficiency is a global issue or just NA issue? I hope you do no oversell this because it may confirm the lack of leaders maturity if it does not translate to actual stock increase (exactly similar to how PBT, Wimax, UMTS-sale failed to show any real progress.

    Can you get your Sales VP on this blog to address growth issues? he is kind of hidden at this time similler to all his peers. Is he changing anything to improve the sales org efficiency?

    August 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm by commentor

  7. I should have taken the blue pill.

    August 26th, 2008 at 5:02 pm by many

  8. Hey commentor - energy efficiency is absolutely a global issue…our sales teams are telling us that for sure. Are we overselling the EE stuff? I don’t think so. Yes we are pushing it hard, but for a reason. We are getting an enthusiastic response to both marketing and sales efforts.

    Remember, we really just started talking up EE in April/May. In just a few months we now have significant attention for this topic.

    Are we translating this into wins? Absolutely, for details I’ll point you to another recent comment I responded to here: http://tinyurl.com/5dofrq

    PS - this blog isn’t focused on Nortel’s stock price. It’s focused on Nortel news. Sometimes those two intersect, but the goal of this blog is not about answering the question “what’s up with Nortel’s stock today.”

    August 27th, 2008 at 12:39 am by Bo Gowan

  9. Bo,

    I really don’t envy you having to put up with all the naysayers and doubters. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. If you bring attention to Nortel its desperation and if you don’t you’re throwing in the towel. So many commentators all with the benefit of hindsight who take all their cues from the stock price.

    I think what you’re doing here is important in so far as you can connect with customers and engage employees in new ways. Unfortunately every outlet for you guys seems to be plagued by disgruntled investors playing armchair quarterback.

    By the way, the Robot vid reminds me of a Radiohead video. Similar style and eerie radiohead-esque music.

    August 28th, 2008 at 8:17 pm by moosebump

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