---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash STYLISH TV COMMERCIAL FROM SUN MICROSYSTEMS IS FIRST EVER ON CLIENT/SERVER COMPUTING SunFLASH Vol 28 #5 April 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oscar-Winning Director is Special Effects Whiz MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. --April 8, 1991-- Sun Microsystems is launching the biggest advertising campaign in its history, highlighted by the first primetime television commercial on client/server computing. Such a big step would have been unthinkable just a year or so ago, when networked workstations ("clients") and the "servers" that support them were used mainly by technical professionals. But Sun's explosive growth in the business world is rapidly bringing awareness of client/server computing to critical mass. Or perhaps Sun's commercial will do so. To air in the United States on Sunday, April 14, on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, ESPN and A&E, this commercial displays no business-suited automatons, no fit blonde javelin throwers -- in fact, no computers, either. The 30-second spot relies on striking photography that came from one of the motion picture industry's leading special effects facilities. The viewer becomes the tip of an unseen arrow hurtling at 100 m.p.h. through a lush forest and then breaking through into a green meadow. Bearing down on a vivid target in the meadow, the viewer steels himself for impact, when........but that would be giving away the punchline. Partial inspiration for the commercial came from an often-quoted comment by Sun CEO Scott McNealy that the company, unlike competitors, has "all the wood behind one arrowhead," referring to Sun's single-product-line strategy. The workstation leader is using this strategy to continue its success in the client/server computing arena, the bandwagon popularized by Sun that every other computer company is now trying to leap on. But Sun intends to remain No. 1. "We've always been an aggressive company, so being the first to bring client/server to such a broad audience makes sense for Sun," said Larry Hambly, Sun's vice president of marketing. Hambly was also bolstered by the fact that 30 percent of Sun's revenues now comes from commercial customers, up from almost nothing just a few years ago. "Return of the Steadicam" One of the most memorable segments in "Return of the Jedi" in the early `80s was the race through the forest of Luke and Princess Leia, with bad guys in hot pursuit. This scene utilized a new technique called "steadicam" that brought exciting realism to motion pictures. One of the cameramen who pioneered this technique shot the Sun commercial, under the direction of Michael Bigelow from the noted special effects company Dream Quest Images in Southern California. Bigelow was part of a crew that has won back-to-back Oscars (1990, 1989) for the effects on "Total Recall" and "The Abyss." More recently, he directed the TV trailer (interestingly, showing an arrow blasting toward a target) for the upcoming film, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." He has worked on special effects for many commercials (including a Clio award winner) and films such as "The Fly," "Predator," "Earth Girls Are Easy," "A Nightmare on Elm Street IV" and Michael Jackson's video, "Moonwalker." Dream Quest was hired by Sun's advertising agency, Anderson & Lembke Inc., a subsidiary of Chiat/Day/Mojo (the agency that created Apple Computer's famous "1984" commercial). Anderson & Lembke came up with the concept and used top talent to film and produce the commercial. TV Commercial Part of International Campaign Anderson & Lembke has designed a worldwide, multi-million-dollar campaign for Sun to promote the company's leadership in client/server computing. It consists of the commercial -- which will air later in Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom -- and a series of print ads, mailers and collateral. The print campaign will run in major Sun markets -- 22 countries -- all over the world. This outlay of effort is extraordinary for a company that did no advertising at all for its first few years in business and has advertised quite modestly -- mainly in trade publications -- since then. But Sun has what it believes are good reasons for such a bold move. The company thinks that the expected mass penetration of workstations into markets dominated by PCs, minicomputers and mainframes isn't a future event -- it has already happened. And workstations -- and the client/server approach to computing they represent -- are beginning to emerge the victor. With computers, mainly PCs, having become so commonplace in the business world today, Sun is betting that people are ready to move to a better solution. With Sun's huge competitors -- IBM, Hewlett-Packard, DEC -- homing in on this vast emerging market, a preemptive strike seemed appropriate. And it will air on April 14. PR contact Zach Nelson (415) 336-0572 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.