Regardless what actually happened Verizon and Vodafone are still reeling from the launch of the new Storm and there is a lesson for all of us on prelaunch marketing.
The long awaited launch of the new Blackberry Storm happened on November 21, 2008 to lines of people, even an altercation. Demand for the product actually crashed the website and order systems for several hours. There are a dozen different stories regarding what happened and all Verizon can tell their customers is “sorry.”
I have been following the marketing campaign for several months. Verizon used traditional advertising to market the product along with a unique marketing approach which was to tie all of their advertising to a website with a picture of the back of a product. There were no listed features or benefits. Almost no information was shared about the product outside of rumors until two weeks before the launch.
There was two solid months of curiosity and anticipation before the actual launch of a product that only a few saw, touched, or knew much about. That campaign was based on a website, a few emails, and online videos where you heard great things and only saw the back of the product.
What can we take away from this?
- Curiosity is a very strong emotion and curiosity satisfied is opportunity lost. Using a campaign about the next generation of phone and keeping the details secret for months created pent up curiosity for thousands.
- Telling everyone you have plenty of stock when you are not sure of demand is not a good idea. This is what sparked the altercation outside one store when they announced after just one hour that they were out of stock to a hundred people that waited overnight for a phone.
- Lastly, use of the internet, opt-in lists, short videos are all very affective tools to promote a product and keep your prospective customer engaged.
Any thoughts?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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1 comment:
Verizon botched this ill conceived roll out, simple as that. BB's most common for the business user, and the entire "build up" was a waste of time- just sell them, if the device is a good one- they'll keep selling. The campaign to release was of interest to the teenagers of the world, but not the core users of BB devices. To underestimate, by such a wide margin, shows how inept Verizon was in planning and understanding their market. Amateur hour, and the poor saps staffing their stores got left holding the bag and taking the heat- the damn execs who dreamed this mess up should be made to go work in a Verizon store, until they are back in stock.
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