Xerox Says to Get Back to Real Business
With the amount of status-quo marketing in this industry, it excites me when an extraordinary campaign is launched. Xerox has definitely hit the mark with their "Ready for Real Business" marketing campaign. Here we see the full extent of the plans Xerox has for the ACS acquisition. Wanting to further separate itself from being synonymous with "copiers," Xerox is ready to be a full-fledged services firm. Their message with this campaign is clear: get back to doing what your real business is, and let us take care of everything else.
The marketing campaign stretches across all forms of media, but the most fun can be found at the microsite, realbusiness.com. By visiting different "floors" of "Real Business International," you can interact with a variety of mascots from some of Xerox's large customers—watch Mr. Clean polish the flatbed of a copier, see a crash test dummy repetitively walk into an office wall, receive attentive service from a Marriot representative, and much more. The entire site is focused on presenting case studies of Xerox's major clients, and there are a variety of opportunities to read these stories and view corresponding television commercials. The site is actually fun to browse, which is an accomplishment in itself.
One of the first things I noticed on the microsite was that "document management" is listed last in the main menu. Intentionally, I'm sure. It's listed behind finance and accounting, human resources, customer care, and IT outsourcing—all things that most of the world would not associate with Xerox. The case studies cover all major industries and a variety of services: invoice processing for Marriott, benefits administration for Ford, workforce training for Hertz, data center and network support for Ingersoll Rand, retirement education for a global defense technology company, call center support and training for a telecommunications company, customer service support for colleges, basic to advanced finance and accounting services for manufacturing companies, and of course, a variety of document management services highlighting clients such as Ducati, Target, P&G, the New York Mets, and the University of Notre Dame. Xerox is presenting the idea that no matter what industry you're in, they can take care of all of the back-end processes while you get back to your core ("real") business. Exactly what a services company should do.
The campaign has sparked renewed discussion about Xerox and the impact of the ACS acquisition. Over the weekend, a Barron's magazine article suggested that Xerox's stock price may double, primarily as a result of the ACS acquisition and further movement into services. That article was followed by a 7 percent increase in Xerox's share price on Monday. It seems that any short-term concerns that investors had over the ACS acquisition can be put to rest.
In other news this week, Dell Services won a 5-year contract to provide wide-ranging services to BNSF Railway, including print management. It's great to see several companies trying to do it all, because it just makes sense. Print and document management isn't any more unique than network management, employee training, payroll administration or call center support. If a client can source all of these things from a single vendor, the easier and cheaper it is for them. And although small dealerships may not have the ability to take on all of these things in-house, it's good to see partnerships forming that will allow for this sort of one-stop shop solution.
Posted by Emily Offshack on 09/15/2010