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Gimps with big Dell balls hijack HPE's partner shindig
Marketing budget a bit tight after EMC slurp Michael?
Dell Technologies chose a bizarre, seemingly cheap way to hijack Hewlett Packard Enterprises Global Partner Conference this morning that involved gimps with big balls.
The troupe, unnervingly dressed head to toe in black tights, held aloft balls - or balloons if you prefer - that either carried the Dell and EMC brand or claims about the firm’s number one position in product sectors.
The people were strategically placed to greet HPE attendees at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Centre, but the stunt seemed to backfire as most of the channel folk we talked to were simply bewildered by it.
El Reg Tweeted about the pavement frolics this morning.
Dell has hijacked HPE's global partner conference with people dressed in stockings holding big, big balls #weird pic.twitter.com/SLv0iHceiI
— The Register (@TheRegister) September 13, 2016
And so did HPE’s Kerry Bailey, senior veep of the global channel organisation, who tried to spin the gimmick to his own advantage.
Amazing how 2 companies DNA can be so far apart. #HPEGPC kick off slide vs #DellEMC sign #HPE 100% partner focused! pic.twitter.com/9Te0QZe2Qz
— Kerry Bailey (@kbailey) September 13, 2016
Lest we forget, Dell has just spent $63bn to slurp EMC, so similar low impactful marketing gimmicks could well be the norm for the foreseeable future. Whatever next?
Maybe the man Michael could slip on a suit himself, nobody would ever know and it would save save a few bob. ®