Cool New Marketing Technologies: Caught and Served

Archive for June, 2008

Sony rolls out the big rig. Cool, but….

By Rob Everton

Sony has a really cool-looking mobile exhibit rolling around the country at >$4/gallon. I have to admit – it looks like a giant toy that I want to pick up and play with. It comes completely loaded with lots playable product demos in individually themed environments.

My only criticism, having not experienced it firsthand yet, is: In these days of ridiculous gas prices, thanks to the ultra-rich who continue to line their portfolios with speculated gluttony, and our fear of environmental Armageddon only surpassed by our fear of four more years of bush-alikes, why would you roll out an 18-wheeler the size of Delaware and drive around the country with a bunch of PlayStation’s? Compare that to Nintendo, who chose to associate themselves with a Smart Car in their launch campaign.

Having JUST co-written an article with Turtle Transit’s General Manager, Joe Doyon, in the May/June issue of Exhibit Builder Magazine about the use of smaller vehicles for mobile marketing, I’m a little sensitive to this sort of thing.

Compare:

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should, part 792

By Rob Everton

Altering a bronze status of Jimi Hendrix, that was built in memory of his Isle of Wight performance, so that it looks like he is playing Guitar Hero is, indeed, a clever idea. But even those of us who like the Guitar Hero franchise and it’s arguably superior competitor, Rock Band, are sick of the promotional overload. Vandalizing the statue of a rock god is no way to appeal to the fans of rock music. To anyone else with a similarly clever idea: Don’t. Just don’t.

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Two interesting gadgets that launched this week.

By Rob Everton

Two gadgets launched this this week that are worth mentioning here. The first is very well-known – the iPhone 3G. The second launched the day after to considerably less fanfare, but has big potential: The new HP TouchSmart2.

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The iPhone is the easiest to talk about. The stories of it’s runaway success are second only to the stories of how it has completely changed the cell phone industry in the United States. Now the iPhone 3G is poised for a worldwide distribution at a price point that may very well keep it sold out for the rest of the year. Adding a support for the high speed 3G networks, better battery life, true GPS, and a host of software improvements that will be shared with it’s older brother and the iTouch line of media players, the iPhone 3G is a significant evolutionary improvement to the iPhone. At $199 and $299 for the 8 Gigabyte and 16 Gigabyte versions it is now cheaper than the Motorola Razor (at launch) and more functional than any handheld gaming system, all mobile phones, and many, if not most, laptop computers currently in use today. Some of us were a little disappointed at the lack of Flash support, lack of streaming video from the onboard camera, and lack of a 32 Gigabyte version, but this is still the coolest smartphone on the planet right now.

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The HP TouchSmart 2 greatly improves on the previous model in form factor, functionality, and price. At $1300, it’s a pretty easy way to add touch and gesture control to a trade show demonstration kiosk. Take a look at the video on this link, but make sure you have the sound OFF first. You have been warned.

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