September 23, 2002
Point of purchase.
I’ve been thinking that the computer and software industries need to take step back from traditional advertising and look at flogging aftermarket add-ons more like gas stations do. As an example, what hard core Adobe supporter wouldn’t want to shell out a couple extra bucks at their local software purveyor for a vinyl sticker of Calvin taking a piss on the Macromedia logo? Can I see a show of hands? Hmmm. There’s also this natural tendency for the open source folks and Microsoft to park beside each other at the Tasty-Freeze and rev their engines. Why not let them make a statement through appropriately styled self-adhesive window tinting or humanoid antenna-toppers baring the likenesses of Linus Torvalds and William H. Gates III? Not that I would encourage such behavior, of course. Even a company like Gateway would probably have an impact by taking a bit of the money they’ve been saving by having the Chief Financial Officer’s nephew do their industrial design, and use it to print a pile of “Profiles rule. iMacs drule.” bumper stickers. They could make them available directly through their online store or throw one into every cow-spotted box leaving the loading dock, thus covertly spreading the word using the same soft-impact strategy as born-again Christians and middle-of-the-road radio stations. More of the marketing budget could be spent developing the next witty slogan, rather than being wasted on lame television advertising that isn’t targeted at anyone in particular. Surely, some of this idea has merit. Probably not the Calvin thing, but the other bits perhaps? Maybe I should just go back to work now.
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