Signal Planning Considerations and Network Designs

Editor's Notes

• #36: The obvious question now is, how successful have we been so far in conveying our brand aspirations. For the most part, very successful. How do we know. We’ve asked our customers. In the fall of 2002, Ogilvy Mather interviewed Cisco customers—TDMs, BDMs, Enterprise, Service Provider, Channel Partners, Media, Employee—from our 8 most important countries (US. Canada, Japan, China, UK, France, Germany, and Italy) to better understand their perception of Cisco. They found that Cisco had an unequaled position as a stable market leader, that we have a close—almost synonymous association with the network and the Internet, and that our products are known for their reliability and high quality. Most of the interviewees saw Cisco as a pragmatic yet visionary company that is not necessarily leading edge but focuses on delivering the right technology at the right time. They viewed Cisco as honest, confident, knowledgeable, and market driven. On the negative side, participants in the study were not consistent in their impression of Cisco’s customer service and support—most commented favorably, but too many did not, and this should be a concern. Cisco is also frequently seen as arrogant and inflexible and the high cost of the products is not always seen as worth the money.