Nortel Unveils DIY Videos

By Mark Evans | Published: August 27, 2008

Nortel has been among the corporate leaders in embracing social media, showing a willingness to experiment with blogging, podcasting and videos that many other companies are reluctant or unwilling to do.

But 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 the company’s green and energy efficiency strategy. Three of these in-house videos will be posted on Nortel’s Buzzboard blog this week, while two professionally-made videos (I suspect made by non-Nortel employees!) will be posted next Tuesday.

Then, Nortel employees will get to vote for their favorites, and whichever video wins will become part of an online advertising campaign. It sure seems like a long way from when Nortel blew its brains out during the telecom boom with television commercials that used the Beatles’ “Come Together”.

I’ll give Nortel marks for creativity and social media enthusiasm but I’m not sure that making in-house videos part of an online ad campaign is a smart move. That’s not to say there aren’t really creative people working for Nortel but it’s not I’m not sure their efforts should be going into making corporate videos.

Canadian Business writer Andrew Wahl also has his reservations:

A couple of things spring to mind. First off: Way to go Nortel for not exactly blowing the advertising budget! Considering the financial pressures they have (this morning, Lehman Brothers joined a conga-line of other analyst downgrades and slashed its price target to US$6 from US$15.50, citing “several possible headwinds,” and in particular, the carrier networks division’s grim outlook for revenue growth), the idea of a crudely drawn cartoon with eerie background music posted to YouTube does seem more prudent than, say, a lavish network television ad blitz.

For anyone interested, you can watch the video here.

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  • puddintane
    "...a company that has strived for over 100 years on Canadian values, brought it to its knees in less than 3 years by a bad guy. Mike Z. An American."

    All Nortel needs to do is hire Canadians, then.
  • puddintane
    Last I heard CEOs don't hire themselves, they are typically appointed by some kinda Board:

    Said Harry J. Pearce, chairman of the Nortel board: "[Mike]'is the right leader to build on the important work of Bill Owens - and take Nortel to the next level."

    So... two non-cultured Americans managed to twice outfox an entire board of world-savvy, socially and environmentally conscious global villagers who empathize with and understand the pain of the downtrodden masses.... Gotcha.

  • Shackled
    Yes you are totally correct. It is usually the bad guy who wins. Z managed to outsavvy/bullshit his way this far in Nortel, collecting millions from a company that has strived for over 100 years on Canadian values, and brought it to its knees in less than 3 years. So what's your point?
  • puddintane
    Zafirovski is a Yugo/Macedonian. But, go ahead, noble thinker, further enlgihten us how America's non-cultural Secret Society ruined his business sense (but whew! not his Euro-style pro-environmental instincts).

  • broadbandbill
    Here’s an idea: perhaps Nortel should relocate itself to Santa Monica, CA (digital media capital of the world), go through yet another ‘business transformation’ and become the ‘NEW TECH HYBRID’ of digital media, social networks and green tech. They could hire some really cool Hollywood-design guys and have their boxes painted ‘skaterboy-green’. Now, we are talking...Nortel, leading the way towards a whole new global urban art form. Talk about being HYPERCONNECTED!!!! --bb
  • Frank Burch
    Seriously...Nortel should get the hell out of canada. The place is full of a bunch of whiners...at least that's the impression you get from reading their press and their posts. NT should sell to MOT and completely shut down all Canadian ops. Hey, AMERICA WOULD LOVE TO HAVE NT. C"MON OVER GUYS AND GALS. Screw canada and their pessimism.
  • Shackled
    Yeah...Right! Nortel has been going down ever since American CEOs have been running it (Paul Stern, Z, Owens). None of them had a positive impact because they didn't (and still don't) understand the culture. You see for Canadians there is more to life than $$$.
  • are_we_green_yet
    am told its only some enterprise products that are better. thats what Nortel is marketing. its other carrier products like optical, switches and routers actually suck a lot more energy as customers have complained about it. thats being kept quiet. only a matter of time before Cisco starts snarling to drown out Nortel. they are only poking a sleeping tiger right now.
  • less
    I was recently told that Nortel had 1/3 of the fluorescent bulbs in select ceiling lights removed, thus supporting "cost avoidance".

    I wonder what became of them, Ten years ago they would've simply wound up in the trash.
  • Folks - just posted video #2 on Buzzboard, as well as my thoughts on the (relative) importance and appropriateness of this contest in the greater Nortel scheme of things: http://tinyurl.com/5s2x56
  • puddintane
    Complexity simplified: If it smells like it, looks like it, feels like it, tastes like it, its probably it.
  • broadbandbill
    You think Ivan Seidenberg, Denny Strigl, Dan Hesse and the rest of the telecom decision makers watch YouTube? It is NOT negative because it’s Nortel, it’s negative because it’s stupid!
  • The Psychiatrist

    who cares if Ivan Seidenberg or Denny Strigl or any other telecom heads don't watch youtube,these people are so far removed from the reality of everyday costs of living Mike Z included with his $10 M pay.

    Marketing has always been to appeal to the masses and it is them that can make an impact on the environment,benefit from spending less on energy costs etc...


    Do you think the CEO of Philip Morris (Mr Louis Camilleri) parent company of Kraft foods has ever tried Kraft m&c in his life?

  • Tired
    I agree with Tongue-in-Cheek - there's an amazing amount of negativity here NO MATTER WHAT the actual message is. Yeah, I know, there's a lot of reasons to be negative (and seemingly near-nothing to really feel positive about sometimes) but some of you folks couldn't find something good to say regardless of the circumstances. You can defend your position's, I'm sure, and I respect your points of view, but all the same this negativity is getting ridiculous. I'm sure I'll be slammed for even saying that, but still...
  • puddintane
    The former East Germany's Trabant car (look it up) used less fuel than a VW Beetle, mainly becuase you couldn't start it half the time.
    Still, U2 put a pic of one on their "Achtung Baby" album cover, and even took a few of them on their Zootopia tour so Trabant must be good.

    Right?

  • Tongue.In.Cheek
    How is it irresponsible to promote Energy savings in the Enterprise market, with proven measurements and cost savings calculators?

    Oh ... I know ... It's Nortel, so it must be wrong, bad, etc. etc.
  • puddintane
    Lowe child! Lowe child!
  • less
    Diana Ross sang "Love Child"

    Love child, forever meant to be
    Love child, borne from simplicity
    Love child, forever meant to be
    Love child, trumps complexity
  • Another Nortel Watcher
    I still think it's irresponsible for anyone to promote Nortel's focus on green and energy efficiency because I think it's bogus and I will until I see the data. A few energy-efficient enterprise pizza boxes does not equate to a focus.

    In the absence of (embarrassing) data, how about if we post a YouTube video of a fully equipped CS2000 lineup being compared to an equivalent capacity lineup from Huawei, Sonus, etc... and let people make up their minds on which is most energy efficient.

    Please understand, I don't have issue with Nortel raising the visibility of green and energy efficiency - that's a good thing. My issue is that in the context of the whole of Nortel, I think a lot of it is just more talk with no execution - more hype. How much of his budget is Richard Lowe allocating to 'green'?
  • Tongue.In.Cheek
    And here I thought the message was pretty clear. Five total videos, 3 from employees and 2 from professional agencies, all in the vote-for-the-best contest with the winner being part of an online campaign. What happens if one of the professional spots win?

    Have we really gotten to the point on this blog that it doesn't matter what Nortel does, they will always get negative criticism?
  • @Tongue.In.Cheek - the two videos from our professional ad agency are already going to be used as part of the campaign. So only if one of the employee vids wins will we modify the ad campaign.
  • many
    Did Diana Ross sing "Smoke on the Water"?
  • Nortel gal
    Mark - I think you are missing the point. What Nortel is doing is to keep the issue top of mind. Traditional media buys and high gloss campaigns are great - but sometimes it takes a simple employee driven idea (like this one) to make a point.
  • 5th row center
    It's a long way from Telecom '99 in Geneva where Nortel had a private concert with Diana Ross and afterward fireworks over the lake with champagne. I actually stumbled upon my ticket last weekend.

    It's amazing how far we've come.
  • NT_Video_Guy
    Mark, I'll agree with your point that YouTube cannot and should not replace formal advertising, however, as a producer of some of the Video YouTube content, I find this a fast and informative way to get the word out on a technology or feature.

    Hot to configure something, or what the real value of a particular feature is, in a real world environment, is just another "Tip Sheet" vehicle using a distribution media that is easy to access, achievable, and most important searchable by the general public. Podcasts are a great resource for travelers, and you are printing out reams of paper and packing them in your laptop bag.

    This is all directly accountable to the MP3 player phenomenon. List on the train, on the plane, where ever is convenient, and they all have a sense of realism and credibility that is lost in the corporate ad world.

    At the end of the day both media forms have their place, and there are definite boundaries that need to be defined and honored.

    Great comments as usual!
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