Working on the pre-launch of Sun's Solaris 10 operating system, we saw one of the most compelling marketing features was that it could be run off a regular desktop - no longer a Sun hardware-only product. We couldn't stop thinking of the millions of other users that could have a choice besides Windows. Yet, the client felt "Are you having a bad Windows day?" was too provocative.

So we used a softer message and splashed Dell, Compaq, HP and IBM all over the cover.
That's where 80% of the market is. Not everyone at Sun was happy advertising their competition on the front of their mailer, but the marketing logic of our strategy held sway. We just had to shrink the competitions and magnify and it could go out the door.

The result? 90% of the market response was from non-Sun customers. This is a case of aligning the marketing assets to the customer's values, within a culturedid not usually regard 80% of the market as potential customers.