This document outlines IBM's strategy to counter Oracle's aggressive marketing claims about its products. The strategy involved 5 steps: 1) Publish facts comparing Oracle's outdated benchmarks to IBM's current technology. 2) Position IBM as the leader in emerging workloads through client wins and influencers. 3) Stay on message about IBM's superior technology. 4) Cite Oracle's history of unsupported performance claims. 5) The strategy resulted in negative media coverage of Oracle's claims and a Wall Street analyst echoing IBM's messaging.

1. Case study:
Turning the tables on a competitor: OracleJune 25, 2014June 25, 2014
Jeff Cross
Global Competitive
Communications Lead &
VP external relations, STG
jrcross@us.ibm.com
914-766-4166

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Oracle Has a History of Hyper-Aggressive Marketing

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More Oracle (Unsubstantiated) Claims

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Hyperbole on Oracle.com

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IBM Communications
We (Communications)
are the department of
reality, not the
department of rah-rah

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Competitive marketing-communications at IBM
The art of competitive
positioning is not saying
negative things about
competitors,
but making them irrelevant
through positive factshe art of competitive positioning is not saying
negative things about competitors, but positioning them as irrelevant through positive facts.

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But what to do when media regurgitates Oracle's rhetoric?

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“Most of the claims are Oracle’s own benchmarks that are
not published and audited. There are a small number of
industry standard benchmarks -- and of course these are
ones where it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to
compare to other relevant results.”
– Benchmarking blog by Elisabeth Stahl
–Oracle’s SPARC T5 and M5 Benchmarks: Lather,
Rinse, Repeat
1st
step: Quickly determine & publish the facts

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“When Ellison describes Sparc as the fastest chip in the world, he’s doing
so based on one of these benchmarks: TPC-C. The sad reality, though,
is that the system Oracle beat to get the top TPC-C score is a five-year-
old computer from IBM.”
2nd
step: Infiltrate Oracle's announcement coverage with
off-the-record positioning & disgruntled customers
“We don't see our smaller customers and the Internet companies looking
at Sparc aggressively,” said Alex Gorbachev, chief technology officer of
Pythian, an Ottawa-based company that offers database consulting and
related services.
Bloomberg: Oracle Unveils 'World’s Fastest Chip' in Bid to Save Sun Biz
The Wall Street Journal: Oracle Overhauls Server Line; New Machines Make Use

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1.Oracle’s latest benchmark claims compare their technology to
five-year-old IBM POWER processor benchmarks. Oracle is
"frozen in time"
2.It’s hard to believe Oracle’s rhetoric when the Better Business
Bureau 3 times in 7 months that Oracle’s comparative product
performance claims were unsupported & Oracle pulled the ads
3.Clients buy systems based on the business value of applications
and the ability to manage new kinds of workloads, not
benchmarks
3rd step: Develop key messages & use them consistently

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1. Promote client wins against Oracle
2. Position IBM products in a competitive context, portraying IBM systems
as the leader in the workloads of the future, especially cloud and Big
Data/analytics
3. Make sure influencers knew about IBM’s superior technology when
addressing Oracle’s misleading claims (unaudited, Oracle's own tests)
4th
: Be proactive (play offense) & stay on-message

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 National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureaus recommended Oracle
discontinue the ad, "SPARC SuperCluster T4-4 runs Oracle & Java Twice as Fast as
IBM's Fastest Computer."
http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/04/nad-recommends-oracle-discontinue-certain-comparative-p
 NAD recommended Oracle discontinue the ad, “Exadata 20x Faster…Replaces IBM
Again” and a “Giant European Retailer Moves Databases from IBM Power to Exadata…
Runs 20 Times Faster.”
http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/07/nad-finds-oracle-took-necessary-action-in-discontinuing-co
 NAD determined Oracle took necessary action in discontinuing ad, “5x Faster Than IBM …
Or you win $10,000,000.”
http://www.asrcreviews.org/2012/11/nad-determines-oracle-acted-properly-in-discontinuing-perf
National Advertising Review Board rejected Oracle's appeal of a National Advertising Division
ruling in regards to Oracle's ad, "Exadata 20X Faster."
http://www.asrcreviews.org/2013/03/narb-finds-oracle-took-necessary-action-in-discontinuing-co
/
5th
: Cite Oracle's hyper-aggressive marketing

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Results: Earned media slams Oracle claims
InformationWeek: Oracle Sparc T5 Can't Make Sun Rise
The Wall Street Journal: IBM Fires Back at Oracle After Server Attacks
ServerWatch: Big Blue Strikes Back Against Oracle SPARC Power Claims
IBM To Larry Ellison: Your New Servers Aren't Faster Or Cheaper Than Ours

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Results: Wall Street analyst parrots key IBM message
“There appears to be a growing lack of trust around Oracle's positioning of
its hardware products and the real world benefits of its systems vs. its
marketing message.”
– Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore, April 1, in
StreetInsider.com
StreetInsider.com:
Analyst Questions Oracle's (ORCL) Claims about High End Servers

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The verdict? IBM turned the tables on Oracle