Business Editors
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2000
Company Emerges as e-Business, Vertical Market Leader;
Introduces New Advertising Tagline for FY 2001 Campaigns
Lawson Software, the Enterprise behind the Internet, today announced the results of a market awareness and advertising effectiveness study conducted by IDC, along with its new fiscal year 2001 advertising tagline: Because your business can't wait(TM). Lawson made the announcement at CUE 2000, its 15th annual conference and user exchange, in San Diego.
Key findings of the first phase of IDC research indicate that nearly half - 41 percent - of all senior executives interviewed in January 2000 in the professional services, retail and healthcare markets recognize Lawson as an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution provider, compared to an awareness level of 30 percent reported one year earlier in a February 1999 Fortune magazine study. In addition, study results place Lawson on equal footing for "first in mind" recognition with two of its largest competitors. The IDC study is the first of three that will be conducted for Lawson. A second will occur in May 2000 and a third in the fall of 2000. For the first study, 144 top-level corporate executives were interviewed.
"Lawson's messages are reaching key decision makers in their target vertical markets," said Scott McLarnon, vice president, Consulting, and study director at IDC. "Based on the fact that Lawson is facing competitors that are five-to-10 times larger in terms of revenues, an overall awareness level of 41 percent among C-level decision makers is an extremely favorable showing."
Lawson's overall perception moved from a fifth-place ranking in the 1999 Fortune study to a third-place rank in the IDC study. C-level decision makers for ERP view Lawson as "straightforward," "an e-business innovator" and "a company that can be trusted to deliver," according to the IDC study. The IDC study reveals that trust is one of the key factors shaping senior-level perceptions of ERP software providers.
According to advertising tracking resource Competitive Market Reporting, Lawson's advertising media dollars are dwarfed by its major competitors; however, one-quarter of all respondents of the IDC study recall seeing or hearing Lawson advertisements. More than half - 55 percent - of Lawson's ad awareness comes from magazine ads, according to the IDC study, which was conducted before Lawson launched its second television advertising campaign on Feb. 7, 2000.
