The rise of cloud computing through effective advertising

A recent Ecommerce Times article discussed how cloud computing has come a long way due to effective advertising.

The article's author, Jeff Kaplan, managing director at THINKstrategies, explains that cloud computing in its infantile stage was neither a sought-after commodity, nor was its name appealing. "What's harder to get your arms, or head, around than a cloud? Talk about an amorphous idea," Kaplan writes.

However, through effective use of advertising, companies such IBM, Microsoft and Salesforce.com have made the cloud intriguing for public consumption on both the consumer and business level.

Kaplan likens these new advertisements to Apple's famous 1984 commercial, which he argues, created a new way of thinking regarding personal computing; however, these commercials about the managed IT service have provided a new way of thinking for enterprise computing.

"Although the Salesforce.com ads will not be as memorable as Apple's historic '1984' Super Bowl ad, they will certainly push greater consumerization of IT," Kaplan writes.

With the public cloud's revenue expected to reach nearly $30 billion by 2014, which IDC recently predicted, it seems the promotion of cloud computing through advertising has been an effective ploy.