Normally I don't comment on advertising, and I hate to beat a dead horse. I thought it was ironic however, that I was listening to a talk radio show about the importance of advertising during economic downturns. The idea is that continued advertising keeps the product fresh in the consumers mind. It also instills confidence in the company as they continue to keep their presence known.

Around the same time a flurry of activity started up in the Lotus community (http://planetlotus.org) about Lotus Notes and the continued lack of advertising for the product. While many believe it is a superior product to Exchange and Sharepoint, its getting harder to get that message through to people these days.

After doing a little searching on the Internet I was able to find this article which is very interesting reading:
http://mdurwin.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/now-is-not-the-time-to-skimp-on-advertising-and-marketing/

At the conclusion of the article it states:

"As far as the end of the question as to what distinguished the companies that did well during the Depression? They were the companies that kept their name in front of the public and created brand name recognition even during the worst of times."

Is the Lotus brand suffering do to lack of advertising? The community seems pretty adamant about it!  Only time will tell.