We love this project. Still. It’s our baby. And we’ve proudly watched over this special total cost of ownership tool.  It’s “our” TCO calculator. Made for a special client, we’ve had the pleasure of seeing our TCO calculator grow, change, and prosper. First for Brocade – and now for Ruckus.

After all, how many marketing campaigns born in 2011 are still delivering top notch results?  This is the beauty of a well-done TCO calculator.

Strong Launch Campaign

Back in 2011, Brocade Communications was launching a new release of its campus LAN switch. They needed a strong integrated campaign and marketing content to insure a successful launch.

By the way, the photo there?  It shows calculations from the original Brocade-branded design when it was first created.

Integrated Marketing Campaign with TCO Calculator

We created a  web-based total cost of ownership (TCO) calculator as the centerpiece of the launch program. So it started as a complex spreadsheet that was then programmed in HTML5. In addition, the original campaign assets included a much-simplified TCO version for an outbound email campaign, a white paper showing TCO impacts, and sales and partner training presentations on the TCO calculator.

The brilliance was in the total cost of ownership calculator itself because it was so easy to use and showed Brocade’s customers compelling value.  In addition, it was easy for Brocade to maintain.  As prices change, Brocade simply changed in an area dedicated to price updates.

Thereby, we met a primary project goal we have for all calculators we create: make them easy for clients to manage.

And, we’d just like to point out, here is another asset created after the Brocade re-branding in 2015.

A Launch Campaign Grew into a Long-term Marketing Masterpiece

Beyond the initial launch, the TCO calculator was re-purposed again and again and again. Major partners like CDW linked to it. Avnet and Brocade partnered for channel partner training webinars featuring the TCO calculator.

The product line is now part of Ruckus, an Arris company. Again, another makeover.  And while the output page is creatively re-designed, it’s still very familiar. Same default values, same metrics, same charts, just a fresh look with a new logo.

So the TCO calculator is as effective and as beautiful as ever. And we couldn’t be more thrilled that it’s still showing prospects the value of network switches and still accelerating sales at its new home. After all these years.

Check out our resources – there’s one about making great TCO calculators and return on Investment (ROI) calculators by reading the 5 tool rules and on this blog.