Tag Archives: technology

Shocking People into Buying Your Product

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It costs a lot of money to make a television commercial, and at its core what is a television advertisement? It’s a short piece of video designed to reinforce brand values and attachment, or possibly with any luck, to drive purchasing behavior. But there are other ways to distribute video now of course, other than buying time on the major networks or the hundreds of cable networks. And sometimes alternative methods of video distribution actually work better for some creative ideas than traditional media buys.

And what do you do when you have a product that isn’t necessarily that easy to advertise in the traditional ways, for example horror movies or ultra high-definition televisions?

Products that in your advertising that you might WANT to shock people, because they like that, in the case of horror movies. Or in the case of a tech product where people are reasonably happy with what they have, your might actually NEED to find a way to shock people in order them to perceive the incremental benefits of what you’re offering versus what they already have.

In the first case, the people behind the new Carrie movie set out to create a telekinetic café prank in New York City to promote the movie:

While in the case of ultra high-definition televisions, which let’s be honest, aren’t SOOOO much better than HDTV’s that people are camping out in front of the electronics retailers to get one. So, companies like LG are going to have to go to extreme lengths to highlight the incremental value delivered by an ultra high-definition television over an HDTV. LG decided to engage some of the public in shocking scenarios utilizing their product (and film the whole thing) to try and show not just the people involved in the pranks, but the rest of the world at the same time, the shocking visual clarity of their ultra high-definition televisions. A great creative strategy, and a smart value translation approach for their potential innovations.

Here is an LG elevator prank:

Here is an LG job interview prank from Latin America:

And finally here is another LG prank in the men’s restroom:

So, as you are thinking about advertising your own new products and services, think about whether or not buying media is the best way of distributing any video advertising you might want to create. And also think about whether or not you might need to shock people into buying your product or service because they believe their existing product or service is “good enough”?

And is your product or service better than the existing ones by a wide enough margin to make customers care?

Something to think about…


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Innovation Quotes of the Day – May 24, 2012

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“We have a moral obligation to invent new technologies. What if Mozart had been born before the violin and harpsichord?”

– Kevin Kelly

“For whatever reason it may be easier for humans to ascribe innovation to one person (Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, etc.), but it is not necessarily helpful to the success of innovation in organizations to popularize this myth. Instead when it comes to creating more innovation in organizations, we must DESTROY it.”

– Braden Kelley

“Pretty much, Apple and Dell are the only ones in this industry making money. They make it by being Wal-Mart. We make it by innovation.”

– Steve Jobs

What are some of your favorite innovation quotes?

Add one or more to the comments, listing the quote and who said it, and I’ll share the best of the submissions as future innovation quotes of the day!

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Innovation or Invention? – Nokia’s Vibrating Tattoos

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Innovation or Invention? - Nokia's Vibrating TattoosIt was recently discovered that Nokia Corp. has filed for a tattoo that would send “a perceivable impulse” to your skin whenever someone pings you on your phone, ensuring you may never miss another phone call, text or email alert again.

According to the patent filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, your phone would communicate with a magnetic tattoo you placed on your body. The phone would transmit magnetic waves that the tattoo could receive. When the waves hit the tattoo, you would feel something. Patent filings suggest that it would be possible to customize the physical response depending on who is calling.

In the patent filing, Nokia also proposes a slightly less invasive version of this technology, which would include a magnetic receiver that could be worn on the skin like a sticker and would vibrate when the phone rings.

So do you think this is destined to become an innovation or is it merely an interesting invention?

Nokia Vibrating Tattoo Patent

Personally, at this point I believe it is merely an interesting invention. I’m not sure something like this will reach the mass adoption necessary to turn it into an innovation. Plus, at this point it is only a patent application and the amount of work that would go into getting the cost down to where it would need to be and to build some kind of channel of distribution makes it likely that something like this would take years to develop, plan and launch.

It is however a brilliant public relations coup for a company that is struggling on the brink of becoming irrelevant as the advanced world moves quickly to adopt smartphones, a category where Nokia is struggling.

So, what do you think – invention or innovation?

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