Slashdot Mirror
Sony-Ericsson Starts US$5M Astroturf Campaign
lairdb writes "The WSJ reports today (31Jul02) that Sony Ericsson will be marketing their new T68i cellphone/camera combo unit via "shills" to create a grassroots buzz. Specific tactics will include fake tourist couples at popular attractions asking bystanders to take their picture, and "leaners": pairs of women ("actresses and female models") at bars playing interactive Battleship with each other from opposite ends of the bar.
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]""
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]"
Never mind telling the world via WSJ
... before the pick-pocket crowd notice these shills... With their neverending supply of cameras provided by the company... Being paid to hand them over to other people they don't know... cameras that are new and thus expensive and in high demand...
This should be amusing.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
This kind of story isn't new. This is typical PR stuff. Anyone who wants to lean more should read Toxic Sludge is Good For You, Lies, Damn Lies, and the PR industry.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
damn these foul charades.
eat people not animals
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]"
And I just stole one of those babies from these old tourists today so I could go play Battleship with these hot chicks I met at the bar last night.
Tuus crepidae innexilis sunt.
Don't we have laws requiring advertisments to be obvious? If an ad is not obvious, isn't it required to specifically state "paid advertisement"? This certainly takes the role of a paid advertisement.
Supposedly the actors/models hired for this won't lie when asked if they work for Sony/Ericson, but I wonder how specific the line of questioning has to be? These people are going to waste other peoples' time asking for photos to be taken of them. Ordinarily I'd gladly take a photo of a couple, but these photos are meaningless.
I've got one, and it's great. You can even take pictures with it! Or play wireless games with other T68i owners. I wouldn't want to be the last person to get one of these...
Astroturf isn't nearly so offensive when they're admitting to it up front. In fact, it's more like the Turing Test - can you tell the real technophile barfly from the fake one? Of course, I think the odds of running into two women playing wireless Battleship in a bar are pretty low, so the test would be biased in favor of 'shill' - but for other tests it would be kinda fun.
...specific tactics will include fake tourist couples at popular attractions asking bystanders to take their picture...
/me runs off with the phone.
Me: "Sure, folks, I'll take your picture. Move back towards the fountain."
Tourists (moving back): "How's this?"
Me: "No, no, a little farther back."
Tourists (moving back again): "Better?"
Me: "Hey, I know! Why don't you take off your shoes and stand *in* the fountain?"
Tourists: "Umm.... okay."
(Tourists take off shoes and socks and wade into fountain.)
Tourists: "Okay, how's this?"
~Philly
Back in the day when the shopping cart was invented (were talking 1937 - not amazon.com) the first stores to offer these contraptions noticed that they were not catching on at all .. so what did they do?
...
They resorted to hiring models to shop with grocery carts as to "model" the behavior desired for customers.
Needless to say it worked like a charm
Most of you people will dismiss this because it's coming from Sony, but were it Microsoft doing something similar you'd be raising all kind of hell.
I'm more worried about Sony that I've been about Microsoft. Sony has its hands on too many things and has shown a willingness to use any means to abuse its position.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
I start working a couple blocks away in two weeks..
on another note, who's going to be the first in the US to do 3G with a bluetooth phone? how about stapling together a 3G palm phone with bluetooth connection sharing? can you do it today?
Intelligent Life on Earth
HAHA! Ignore all the claims to the contrary...I have this phone and it's GREAT! it has totally fulfilled all my cellular phone expectations...not to mention that I am now a funnier and more popular person. also I am better looking.
/. "joes" like myself...and believe me, you might even just want to send some extra free money to ericsson after you see how good it is.
you should TOTALLY try out this phone. I mean, yeah, you could listen to the "marketroids" (haha!!! lingo!) or you could just take the word of regular
your average slashdotter,
sean
ps I CERTAINLY don't work for ericsson...haha!
pps did you notice I wrote "/." instead of "slashdot"? I am SO clearly one of you guys
I can see it now... www.LeanerSpotting.com
I was just sitting at the bar, surfing when I stumbled across this thread. I'm doing all this on my new Sony/Ericsson T68i, it's really cool and I love it, I'd post a picture that I took with it, yup, I said that I took a picture with my cell phone, but /. won't let me. If you all have a minute, I'd love to tell you about it and let you check it out .....
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]"
Just look for the totally lame assholes at the bar. On second thought, think of the potential for false positives. Damn...back to the drawing board.
While this is kind of underhanded, it's an interesting idea -- I guess the suits are beginning to realize that glittery (but really lame) advertising campaigns don't penetrate our bullshit detectors.
Steve
2 women (supposedly gorgeous) playing battleships in a bar... Riiight. EricSony marketoids needs to get out more.
[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]""
:)
For example, they explained their marketing campaign to the Wall Street Journal, an internationally distributed newspaper with a daily circulation of 1,943,601, and gave said paper specific examples of the kinds of things that their actors will be doing. Then, once this paper prints an article on it, it gets posted to slashdot.org, a heavily accessed website frequented by virtually everyone in the target group of wierdass technology toys like a digital camera/cellphone allinone.
Sony, you are brilliant. No one will ever suspect the details of your devious plan. They will think all those shills are real people. Sony: international troll of mystery! If only Microsoft were this good at keeping its secrets from the public, Security though Obscurity might actually work.
---
Now that i have the blatant, boring cynical sarcasm over with, i have to say this for them: well, their campaign sure worked! In that, it was successful in one thing: i heard about it. So did you. So did everyone in this forum. Everyone here may know Sony was using dubious marketing practices, but they also know that Sony is selling a cell phone that doubles as a digital camera. Which, now that i think about it, is fucking cool. I want one.
Before a certain incident which messed up the airline industry pretty bad, my brother held a similar job for one of the major commercial airlines. He was an internet shill for this company. His job was to visit travel websites, message boards, newsgroups, and even AOL travel forums and basically promote his employer as subtlely as possible. The idea was to create a good image of the airline without making it obvious that he worked for them.
He'd make posts under fake names telling stories of how he just used the airline and had a great experience. If he found someone railing on the airline for a particular issue ("my inflight meal was dry") he'd counter it with a positive example ("I flew from LA to Miami last week and the food was great"). Same thing if people were complaining about fares, being bumped, or whatever. He was like an anonymous and multi-faceted PR guy, doing his best to influence peoples opinions of his airline.
I wouldn't doubt that other industries are doing the exact same thing.
I have a T68 and I get people asking me "Hey, that's COOL! Where'd you get that phone? What else can it do?" all the time.
:P
I wish Ericsson would pay *ME* for such encounters.
I don't think this would really create a "fake buzz" because the T68 really is a pretty cool phone. The accessories (like the camera or the mp3 player) are a bit pricey, though.
Whereas, in the rest of the world and in all history prior to the current era, people were honest.
Grow up and read some history. People don't change.
If it ain't broke, you need more software.
...then I don't care if they're shills or not. Attractive women who "like" discussing technology - even the illusion would be damn cool. Now if only I were old enough to visit bars - wait! Canada! Woohoo!
I'm the stranger...posting to
I mean how may people can these folks contact in an hour? If they are trying to make it look like a chance encounter then they can't be doing it to every person that passes by. And what does a pair of actresses cost per hour? Unless it generates a lot of follow on word of mouth my guess that what is going on here is a bunch of ad execs trying to show off how 'outside the box' they can think.
The FTC has been warning search engines that try to pass off sponsored results as real, so you would think they would warn Sony about trying to pass off sponsored consumers as real.
"pairs of women ("actresses and female models") at bars"
Hells yeah, actresses and models come round to the lower man's arena! To hell with the cell phones, I want the chicks! Go Sony/Erickson
WikiAfterDark.com It's a sex wiki, go now!
Tommy Hillfiger did this to promote their clothes in poor black areas of NYC.
Triv
I mean, come on. How about a straightforward demo of the damn things?
At MacWorld 2 weeks ago, these things were all over the place so people could demo Apple's new iSync software. There was no subterfuge, it was, "Here's the phone, try it out for yourself." And it worked. I want one.
Why do they deem it necessary to stoop to all this sneaky shit? If the product is good, people will want it without some fucking Jedi Mind Trick-style advertising campaign.
Ah, and the obligatory Simpsons quote:
Moe: "Hi, uh, could I buy you a drink?"
Cute Girl in Bar: "Sure! How about a Bacardi Cooler?"
M: "Uh.. ok."
CGiB: "Or even a Bacardi Rita? Because Bacardi makes the night come alive... with freshness!"
M: "What, do you work for Bacardi?"
CGiB: "No, I'm in love with you."
CGiB slaps a "Drink Rum" sticker on Moe's forehead
I mean -- for 5 million dollars. christ man... *GIVE AWAY SOME PHONES*. you don't have to hire actor/actresses, you sure as f*k don't have to train them, and you get the same publicity ANYWAY, and it's not limited to the 60 day period. they way every dollar you spend will be twice as effective because the money you would be otherwise spending on hot women would be actually converted into a dozen or so phones floating around in some chatty salesperson's hand, who would go and talk to strangers in a bar about nothing *anyway*.
moreover, even if you get this advertised like so, and whatnot, and people want it -- how much are you willing to bet people will get a "free" motorola with reasonable features vs. paying 200 bux extra for one of these, when they set up a plan? here again, the 5 million should better go toward discounts and stuff.
lastly, it's very annoying if you found out that you got dressed up on friday, invested a good hour on this chick and all she really wanted to talk to you for is to sell you a f*king phone. it's kinda cheap and i think morally it's wrong because you are talking to people under a false pretence, for blatent alterior motives. not to say that this sort of things don't happen -- but to encourage this breach of morality and mutual trust is quite low.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
...it's pretty much like the average user-submitted Slashdot product/book review, huh?
If a restaurant, bar, or other private firm posts a "no soliciting" notice, the people engaged in this deceptive ploy might be hauled off for trespassing. Alternatively, the owner could take Sony/Ericsson to court and demand a fee for using his/her establishment to advertise their products.
For your average /.'er, the girls at the bar should be easy to spot. General rule, if a good looking girl at a bar shows even the slightest bit of interest in you, then they MUST be getting paid (one way or another), and you'd be best to avoid them and go back to playing with your Palm in the back corner.
'So, how much does Sony pay you for this?'
I am a science fantasy fan
BEFORE everyone goes to the Ericsson job site and slashdots it, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that there are currently three jobs available: two in the Netherlands and one in Nigeria. Alas, I don't believe any of them involve walking around pretending to be tourists while getting paid.
Sorry to burst your bubble.IWARS.
People, in general, disappoint me. Politicians even more so.
People will be fooled into thinking this is honest buzz
Huh?
if people see strangers using stuff, and think its cool, they'll use it; but if they see strangers using stuff, and those strangers are getting PAID for it... then people suddenly wont want to use it, even if they think it's cool?
What was that guy smoking, anyway?
Sony-Ericsson is going much further with this, to actually train and pay the people. That's unusual. Those people who hand you invites in clubs seldom get more than free admission. Models who go out in designer outfits often get the outfit as a freebie, but no pay. Many of the wilder haircuts are freebies, too; stylists have to try out their exotic styles on somebody. Ask women with wild haircuts where they got them done; often it's a promotional deal. And almost everybody in the sales end of the rag trade gets promotional deals on clothing.
I'd prefer to see the new sexier than sexy models out in the bars demonstrating the latest in condoms...
"Hey, sir... can you help me out with this whiz-bang new product? I really think you'd like it."
Maybe it's just me.
I'm on a chair.
Great... first it was radiation to my brain... now with this camera thing it'll be radiation straight into *my eye*.
As if I don't get enough of that from staring at this monitor all day waiting for a new Slashdot story...
Chrylser tried this buzz thing by stocking PT Cruisers at rental car locations in hip parts of Miami.
Isn't this kind of normal? Hertz is owned by Ford (GT350H, man was that a car) and rents Fords "and other fine cars". Lots of unsold and recently used cars (demos and such) cars go to the rental places. I'm not sure if this case is buzz marketing or S.O.P. Some criticize this because it inflates car sales - I think the Taurus sales figures when it was #1 sold car included "fleet sales" such as these.
The net result of this kind of marketing will be to make people suspicious of each other. It is evil. As someone else pointed out, normal demos would do better, except they might be run off by park officials for soliciting.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
It's an innovative way to market a product. Why on earth is this article so negative about it, almost like it's a morally reprehensible thing to do?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
According to SonyEricsson filings to the FCC, the hardware of the T68i is identical to that of the T68 - it's just a new cover, new back, and different coloured LEDs behind the keypad.
The rest of the differences are in the software. In most markets that T68i is available in, SonyEricsson have made a software update available for the T68 - effectively transforming it into a T68i. The software upgrade has been available in most of Europe and Asia for a few months now. Down here in Australia, we're still waiting for it and the T68i to be officially released.
There are currently two different models of snap-on cameras ("CommuniCam") for these phones.
The original CommuniCam is the MCA-10, which works with the original T68 and a few of Ericsson's older phones.
The new model is the the MCA-20, which currently works only with the T68i, afaik.
The older model has an inbuilt viewfinder, and most of the 'brains' are within the camera itself - the phone is little more than a data device. The newer model has no inbuilt viewfinder - you do the viewfinding on the phone screen itself. More of the processing has been moved into the phone; so the phone now stores the images internally, and can use them for MMS (multimedia messaging), screen backgrounds, caller number presentation, etc.
When XP and Redhat 7.(2 or 3) came out at about the same time, I went right over to CompUsa to get my copy and as I approached the checkout counter some guy who had been standing near the register with a box of XP excitedly asked the clerk if there was any software for XP, who pointed at the Office XP, etc. in the first rack behind the registers. He ran over and merrily grabbed one of everything that said XP on it and headed back to get in line behind me. The clerk virtually busted out laughing when he saw I was buying Redhat though I didn't get the feeling that he was laughing at me, and he said they had been selling a lot of it. The whole thing with the XP guy just seemed staged, especially after I looked back on my way out and they weren't even ringing up his "purchases". So I don't think using shills to generate fake excitement is anything new.
and hand you a phone. You can either buy it and sign up fort hree years serevice or she gets to take a "dirt nap" for eternity.
I'm LMAO but I'm sure that any phone company shill would get a boner at that kind of sales tactic.
Advertising is about dishonesty, lying, cheating prevaricating or even using statistics to extract money from you.
If you see a product advertised, don't buy it, or the product. Send Madison Avenue to the poor house.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Actually, no one likes anything. Anyone looking interested or nonlethargic is hired by someone!
May we never see th
"The company decided to make available hundreds of sets of the new portable cassette player, free of charge, to key persons prior the public launch. These key persons were carefully chosen and selected. Sets were given to magazine editors, and specially, touring musicians, they use to carry records and tapes of the music they are going to play and the directors comments and instructions of different aspects of the piece in order to be prepared for the concert."
.. who owns the Ericsson phone business??? Sony!
"A further promotional tactic involved the company paying couples to stroll through Tokyoís biggest and important shopping district whilst listening to their Walkmans. Several Vox Populi interviews. were conducted in collaboration with broadcasters, in the airports and train stations, to ask visitors to Japan about their opinion and their responses to the new portable cassette
player. Their reactions were video - taped and featured in news broadcasts."
Wait a second
More on http://www.eafit.edu.co/revista/117/acosta.pdf
Oct 31, 12:56 ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)
Sony Ericsson announces the end of their shortlived advertising campaign. The new T68i, a mobile phone that can double as a digital camera had been advertised in a truely unconventional manner. Paid Actors pretended to be tourists who would ask unsuspecting passersby if they would take photos of the couple to expose them to their new product. Unfortunatly for Sony Ericsson, a higher than expected number of the passersby were camera thieves.
In a related story,
How did Sony rack up $2,000,000 in phone sex charges?
I'd call this fraud, but that would imply there was some sort of even hypothetical dividing line between society and commerce. And gee, if human beings have no function other than to consume stuff, who gives a fuck whether they can trust the motives of their pathetic little personal interactions?
Erricson Chick: Hi will you take a photo of me and my girlfriend with my new phone? .45 pistol with tungsten slide........
Coors Guy: Sure! Here hold my refreshing coors lite while I do it!
Miller guy: Hey watch the elbows buddy! I nearly dropped my Miller! Its full of beer goodness godamnit!
GM Chick: Hey who's new Sierra is that out front?
Coke Chick: Who cares, does this bikini make me look fat, I've been drinking diet coke all week!
GM Chick: Shutup!
Toshiba Guy: Girls dont fight! Here lets play some games on this NEW Toshiba laptop!
Colt Guy: Everyone FREEZE! This is a stickup! Notice i'm holding the new Colt
Insert something insightful here, or I'll insert something painful there.
If they're going to all this trouble, why not just hire some sluts^H^H^H^H^H^H^H "actresses" to wear low cut blouses with the phone strategically stuffed into their cleavage? Displaying a photo of herself in the all-together?
Pairs of "leaners" in bars! "If you were cool enough to buy this phone, you could get my number on the pretex of playing battleship while buyiing me drinks from across the bar!" Giggle, giggle. "And then you could use the phone to take pictures of me flashing my tits in forfeit for losing at battleship!" Giggle, giggle.
I wonder how much Mr. Brillaint PR Man got paid for this stunning idea?
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
This obnoxious campaign really ought to be nipped in the bud- it's bringing a social dynamic to paranoid reality that should be left as depicted fictionally in 'The Truman Show'.
How much is it worth to you to be able to trust that the person you meet is not literally a trained actor befriending you only to sell a consumer product?
Hey, wouldn't it be interesting if these people could hunt down your personal information online, and then seek you out specifically to leverage such information ("hey, you a Steelers fan?") in order to befriend you and sell you a consumer product?
"Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice."
"Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived. "
"Corporations do not speak in the same voice as these new networked conversations. To their intended online audiences, companies sound hollow, flat, literally inhuman."
http://www.cluetrain.org/
No Zen is good zen
"[T]he company has gone to considerable lengths to train it's actors to avoid detection [as Ericsson spokespeople.]"
Going as far as telling the "leaners" to sleep with the first drunken guy who hits on them in the bar.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Taking out the battery until you get home?
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Would you rather see a couple hot chicks in the bar playing battleship (and actually even be able to engage in a conversation with them, the fact they're selling you a phone aside) or would you rather see yet another fucking pop-up, banner ad, spam, billboard, or tv commercial?
How is it any different from seeing a new toy that a friend, co-worker, or even complete stranger has and deciding you might want to buy one? Who was the first person you ever saw with a Palm Pilot? Did they tell you how much it costs and where you can get one? How's that any different?
An old business partner and I used a similar tactic when we were running a small gunsmithing business....we put together a couple of really pimped out custom rifles (a couple AR-15s and an SKS) and hit the local firing ranges. When people would ask "wow, where the hell did you get that?" we'd hand them a business card and let 'em take a few shots. I don't see this phone tactic as much different....it's a non-intrusive way to get your product out there.
This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
Did anyone else flinch at this line?
"It's deceptive...People will be fooled into thinking this is honest buzz."
Isn't this taking consumer activism a weeee bit far? I know Nader's trying to play the everything-companies-do-is-evil card as much as he can, but come on...this is absurd.
Ferrari and other exotic car rentals in New York
Florida
Yes it's been used before, but this grasroots buzz thang got into a lot of people's heads recently with the publication of the book _The Tipping Point_. The book described, in a number of ways, how big changes come from a series of small events. One of the examples was about buzz around shoes - the inner-city kids wanted 'em because they were cheap (because nobody else wanted them); because so many kidz bought 'em they became kinda hip; fashion designers saw them in clubs/bars and started dresing their models in them; magazine editors saw the models on runways and in ads, and started doing stories on them, etc.
I'm giving the simplistic version. _The Tipping Point_ is not just about marketing buzz, but the book did well enough that I think a lot of marketers want to use the "tipping point" principles for their product -- and that starts with buzz creation. If it works, expect to see more of it.
Soft, by Rupert Thompson (ISBN 0-7475-3670-8). A beverage company uses subliminal messages, and "embassadors" to pitch their product. Very creepy book. Then again, it's a creepy idea.
In spite of the suggestions and all the tests that I have made, I have not cavato a spider from the hole.
This story discusses an Australian shoe company putting up sexually provocative billboards in the expectation of provoking complaints from the various wowser groups and thus getting themselves a bunch of free publicity. Cheap and effective.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
She: "Hi, I'm a cute girl who doesn't work for any major multinational corperation and I'm just playing around with my super cool camera phone!"
Me: "Wow, that IS cool... Of course my year-old j-phone I got in osaka also takes digital pictures, sends email, plays games, and even can access the internet. Here want to look up the spec's on google? Use my phone. Oh, and it cost me about $50 when I got it new, and it's smaller and lighter than your phone by orders of magnitude and generally can run two or three weeks before it needs to be recharged (which takes about an hour)... Oh, wait, what were you saying again?"
"Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
I work for Phillip Morris, they have me go to parties and bars and bum people cigarettes.
Shit I just got fired...
Notice the complete and accurate information, and the colloquial description of features followed by their branded name ("There are currently two different models of snap-on cameras ("CommuniCam") for these phones.). Not to mention the "informational" links and the subtle sense that the user is waiting impatiently for this service to come to his country. Hell, he even praises how owners of a current model can get a free upgrade!
Is that too much to ask?
Female Prison Rape in NY
This sounds exaactly like a certain recruiting post on Craigslist about six weeks ago.
God, having an eidetic memory comes in handy...
Kevin Fox
Any chance this will backfire? I mean, any time you see an attractive (i.e. living) woman using one of these things in the next six months, you're going to ask them if they're a whore, right?
And if you do buy one, do you want people coming up to you every thirty seconds demanding to try it out?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I got the impression that they were hiring attractive people...
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
For example, I know after many years those IMEI stolen phone blocking is only now being trialed in Oz..
Gez, every GSM phone I've owned has been stolen (being an ex-junkie, well these days more of a once in a blue moon junkie, I know plenty of junkies), except for my current one, & all worked fine with pre-paid sim cards, whether in Oz, the Netherlands, France or the UK
In late 2000, two-thirds of Ericsson Australia employees used Nokias. It got to the point where the 'Christmas bonus' for employees in the development organisation was an R320s (the two years old model) with a free Vodafone contract (Vodafone being a complete joke for coverage in Australia).
I just moved to the UK. First thing I did was buy a prepaid phone. (Vodafone, admittedly, but their coverage here is actually pretty good.) I went for the Sony. You wouldn't believe how pissed off I was when I found out it was really another bloody Ericsson.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
Yar, we've had umpteen generations of camera in phone in Japan, what else is new. Don't suppose anybody cares about specs or anything. The phone's probably nice though I heard there was a big problem with the quality of all the phones the merged companies have made together up until the last one that was sold.
Maybe this one will be the charm (or maybe not, in which case there's always battleship, right?) Not. Oh, nice popup ad for some sleek mobile phone slashdot. As long as we're in an irony mood you just take the cake as usual. (Spoken as someone who recently did a big event for *free* for the two then unmerged but in bed sponsors.
Just make a good goddam cheap phone and it will sell in the U.S. too fer chrissakes! No frikkin magnesium shit but no piece of crap neither! --Yer local redneck.
I'm a T68 owner and work in the telecoms industry. My colleagues and I said months ago that the only way to sell these things is to go out there and show people what they can do. Admittedly, we meant doing it in a company t-shirt... :)
MMS has launched here in .uk, and still I get a blank stare at the mention of it. There are probably more than a few people on here who haven't heard about it, and that in a community of geeks! Spend 30 seconds explaining what you can do with it, and that blank stare turns into uncontrollable drooling.
We have all this great technology that nobody knows about. Anything that gets people informed about it and wanting it, gets average subscriber revenues up, and gets the network operators spending money, (and keeps me in a job), is a good thing in my book.
I'd still rather they were being a bit more open about this though.
How convincing would it really be to have an average slashdotter outrunning two or three physically fit supermodel actors/actresses?
-CausticPuppy "Of all the people I know, you're certainly one of them." -Somebody I don't know
They put a camera in a phone. I can just see the patent now...
I am not a number! I am a man! And don't you
Heh, if anything, this sounds like a shill.
Big difference between a shill and a karma whore.
ASCII tastes bad dude.
Binary it is then.
Chewlies Gum
Gonzo Granzeau
"Nothing the god of biomechanics wouldn't let you into heaven for.." -Roy Batty
Why am I now picturing a scene from 'John Carpenter's The Thing' but instead of grizzly scientists in arctic parkas I see a circle of cellphone wielding models suspiciously eyeing each other...
"I don't know which of you to trust..."
"I know *I* am not a leaner..."
"I don't care what you say... any of you moves I shoot..."
"I saw Tiffany go outside with Barbi alone. If Barbi is a leaner, then Tiffany might be one too now..."
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
The Colt guy sounds a lot like Dirty Harry ("the most powerful handgun in the world" and so on). Scary.
Black holes are where God divided by zero
hawk
hawk
"Other components of the promotional campaign are more commonly used buzz initiatives. One involves "Phone Finds," in which the company will place dummy phones around cities so that consumers can accidentally stumble on them. The screen on the phone will direct the finders to a special Web site, where they will be able to enter a contest to win a free phone. The new phone with camera attachment, priced between $300 and $400, will hit stores next week." I can see these phone ending up a pawn shops or wherever, it seems like Sony could just scatter real phones instead of spending the moolah to build fakes ones. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, I'd rather have folks "find" a free phone and sign up for a service plan (and don't you think everyone would tell their friends about the new phone they found) rather than putting out dummy phones that only advertise.
(Jeez, this sounds like a shill, or a troll-for-a-shill. Apologies. But I do actually want to know.)
Vote Quimby!
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
Everybody are excited about Ericsson's and Nokia's new top-of-the-line models, but are there any alternatives? One that seems pretty cool to me in the previews is the Panasonic GD87, mainly because of the polyphonic ringtones, 65k colours display and digital camera. No JAVA tho, it seems. If it is cheap enough it will probably be one to consider anyway? Anyone know any more cool "underdog" alternatives?
But given my not-too-good financial state at the moment I will probably have to set my aims lower. I have found two alternatives that seem pretty nice and good value for the money:
Siemens M50 is cheap, has JAVA and GPRS, but two colour display and monophonic ringtones.
Panasonic GD67 has got 256 colours display and polyphonic ringtones, but no JAVA there either. It will probably cost about the same as the Siemens M50.
Are there any other cellphones among the cheaper ones that can beat those two that I should know about?
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
So essentially he was hired to be a professional liar and shill for the company? Brilliant. How does he sleep at night knowing he was paid to be a professional liar? People looking to get actual real-world advice about a product before they spend their hard earned money are being lied to by a PR guy in disguise... that just reaks of immorality.
Actually his spiritual director encouraged him. Since the shill was previously a lawyer, Father O'Connor thought that this job was not so sinful.
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Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
How can the companies evaluate that the promotion is not too blatant and not to ineffective?
Do they run surveys asking "Did you know out product from a guy in an Internet forum named "Jack3"?
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Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
If these `hot bar chicks' are just a little careless about getting lubricated so they can better play their role, they might become `laid advertising'.
He: `Why do your knickers have `ADVERTISEMENT' written across them?' She: `Hush, now. Keep your mind on your driving... ohhhhh... yes...' Would that count as `phone sex'?
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing