Xerox Corp. is launching its biggest media blitz in decades, starting next week, as the Norwalk information technology provider tries to remind consumers that they are not just about making copies, The Associated Press reports.
While the Xerox name is still synonymous with copy machines, the company has been branching beyond that line of work for years. Selling toner and paper remains a huge portion of its revenue, but it also makes money helping other companies manage how documents get around on their computer networks, among other services.
And with the $6.4 billion acquisition this year of a company called Affiliated Computer Services, it has tripled the size of its services business, essentially transforming the company more than half a century after putting out its first copy machine. Where less than a quarter of its revenue came from services before the deal, they now account for roughly half of the $22 billion annual total.
Coming out of a recession that put a big dent in corporate technology spending, Xerox is counting on the deal to get revenue growing again.
Xerox expects ACS to help it sell back-office services to its existing clients, which won’t require much advertising. But according to Xerox President Jim Firestone, the bigger opportunity is winning new customers, especially abroad, where ACS hasn’t had as much of a presence.
Hence the new ads.
“We know that Xerox has moved far from its historic roots,” says Firestone. “But the rest of the world doesn’t pay quite as close attention as we would like.”
It isn’t the first time Xerox has tweaked its brand in an effort to shake the copier company label. It redesigned its logo in 2008 with the same goal in mind, dropping the uppercase lettering that was so familiar from its copiers and printers and adding a stylish white “X” stretched over a red sphere.
Xerox won’t reveal exactly what it is spending on the new campaign, but said it will more than double the company’s ad budget compared with last year. It includes spending on TV commercials, print ads and the Web.
