1. Pax8’s New York Times naugtiness
When? March
We already knew that Pax8 hated being called a ‘distributor’.
But until its notorious full-page ad in the New York Times in March, we didn’t quite know how much.
In a move that caused a stir among its peer group, the ‘marketplace’ upstart used the ad to accuse the world’s two largest distributors – TD Synnex and Ingram Micro – of “selling the past”.
The stunt came amid efforts by a number of distributors – among them Ingram itself – to rebrand more as platform companies.
TD Synnex UK&I MD and SVP Dave Watts was quick to clap back at the guerilla marketing move by saying “it’s not the style we would adopt but each to their own”.
In a subsequent interview with IT Channel Oxygen in April, a trio of Pax8 execs, including CEO Scott Chasin, refused to be drawn on the rationale for the ad, saying it spoke for itself.
Pax8’s success in replicating B2C behaviours in the B2B world, and digitising the “first 11” steps of the buyer journey for its MSPs, makes it fundamentally different from traditional distributors, they claimed, however.
So, is Pax8 a distributor?
This deeply unscientific LinkedIn poll – which reflected the views of nearly 400 people – offers a verdict of sorts.
