Chris Kelley and Jeff Nercesian, Are They the Reason for Abject SE Marketing Failure?

First off as we see another year pass I see a continued failure to communicate the Solid Edge message effectively. There are individuals who are ostensibly in charge of this and I will say the following two by their job titles are most responsible for the current problems and in particular the one I am going to reflect upon today.

Just so there is no doubt in anyone’s mind in my opinion they are they are Chris Kelley, Senior Director of Online Marketing and Customer Advocacy; (and in my opinion the one responsible for the industries worst websites as proven in one of my earlier posts) and Jeff Nercesian, Senior Director of Campaign and Content Strategy. I have nothing but utter contempt for how these job categories they fill, by virtue of the checks they get, delivers so little of worth that I can see. I invite any of these marketing and PR people I talk about to come here and defend what they do. I would really like to hear their justifications for why nothing ever moves forward while whole departments of people suck up money and produce so little.

YouTube is perhaps the most powerful training and communicating tool out there for anything from why does your laptop overheat to how do you machine a part in a CAM program. It is all there to a larger degree than anywhere else and the price is right for viewers. The price is also right for those who want to get their videos in the public eye as their cost is free to.The very first place I recommend people to go to for information that has no tech support hours limitations or “training” price tags is YouTube. One of the remarkable things about YouTube videos in the area of CAD CAM is the idea that people just like you, fellow users in many cases, are the ones doing the content. A little rough around the edges perhaps and I know in my case there are times where after about the twentieth try for perfection I am not going to do it again and you get what you get warts and all. I just don’t leave big ugly warts in there. But my point is that I and many others do this from a users perspective and I have to believe that this is different in significant ways from a polished professional VAR or Corporate video. We tend to bring things up that these slick guys don’t because we don’t assume you have knowledge you don’t have.

One of the new features in SE ST6 was the inclusion of a video tool that would allow you to create a video of what you are doing in SE and then upload it to YouTube. I figured it would not be a popular tool initially but one that would see use by enough users to kick something off. Lets face it, the SE community is still barely in existence outside of the annual Universities and the regional Summits. It never gets enough sustained watering and concentrated fertilization for it to fly. I thought this YouTube video idea could be a contributing factor towards the idea of community but then I am not in charge.

This is where the consummate idea killers mentioned above come in. This is also a perfect example of how Siemens or SE or whoever beyond these two can take a good idea and wring all the goodness out of it and then stand there and be proud of what they have done. So we have this video feature, this wonderful tool of communication and community building and it just sits there. All the money and time spent to get this far and these people can’t see that without the final piece they might as well have thrown their money away. You see you can build something but if no one comes was it worth it? These sterile minded corporate petri dish culture meeting infested do nothing but talk types never have figured out the rest of the job. The user centric part that for instance Mr Super Social Media Kelly ought to understand. You need to create interest. OK Chris I repeat since I know once is not enough that YOU NEED TO CREATE INTEREST! Create it as in make it happen as in do something right as in stop talking and start doing.

If it were me I would announce that there are various levels of awards up to free transportation and attendance and your minute of fame as best contributing Video Author for the year at each University. I would give a few students and professional users a years worth of maintainance or equivalent gift card if the seat they use is not theirs. But you get my idea. I would offer incentives both cash and status for these and kickstart this. And this would happen every year and be perhaps part of an award ceremony or whatever where community minded contributors of various types would be recognized. Just like SW does and they have proven these things to be solid seat count builders. This pair I guess figure you wave a magic wand once and go away. Truthfully it is worse than that. What I think happened is these guys did something all the while resenting having to actually have to do something and as soon as they can they get out of any involvement with it they do so. How else can I explain the perplexing total lack of followup on a good idea to MAKE SURE it works by people who brag about being in touch with users and what makes them tick. And the job titles this pair have say exactly that and so I say this.

You two have taken a great idea and once again with the PR boost of SEU2013 announcing it you have done your best to ignore it and kill it. Do either of you have any desire to be on a victorious team or is it your goal to draw a paycheck with the least possible amount of effort? Do either of you desire to have pride in work well done from concept to finish line or is this type of stuff something forced upon you by evil bosses who somehow thought you were supposed to actually competently do things for your wages without having a baby sitter or chastising parent looking over your shoulder at all times. I really think of you people this way because I have seen the pattern of panic for three years now leading up to SEU and then the sighs of relief as it passes and you all think you are off the productivity hook for another nine months. You people are completely clueless about the level of enthusiasm required for your job positions and I can say so with confidence this is the way you like it. Enthusiasm requires work and dedication and manifests itself with well laid plans and follow throughs that never rest until the goals are met or exceeded. You guys run for the water cooler as soon as you can. Always reasons why things can’t be done and never a determination to make it happen.

I am of the opinion that it is too late to salvage some of these employees. Time is running out for easy SE market share conquests and these quintessential bureaucrats have squandered it. For too many years they have been trained by virtue of getting paid that what they do has been OK. I don’t think they are capable of promoting users, the community or Solid Edge and since that is their job description, and they refuse to do so, I think it is time to start letting some dead wood go. These people can’t grasp that they are hurting every part of the SE effort and truly the bottom line by I figure well over $125M in easily derived lost sales potential. I am being to kind here. It is not a matter of not grasping. They are adults who make choices and they choose the cold clammy strangling hands of evasion of duty by smothering it all in meetings where every good thing can be killed with persistence and paychecks still obtained.

I can only conclude that they choose this mediocre outcome because they like this outcome and they evidently fight to preserve this outcome because nothing ever seemingly changes. Corporate welfare I guess for those who wont work or can’t work or are incapable of working. Siemens/SE, if you won’t fire these guys can you at least move them sideways into a closet somewhere where they can’t do all this damage? Let them take their name tags but not their people and put them in isolation before they cost you many more millions.