Opportunities lost, efforts and investments down the drain

Created on Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:42

Written by Wael S., sobeih.com

[►]Even worse: publicity backfiring, image smearing- sometimes, we miss a lot if we don't dissect the views and dimensions of various reactions, as each marketplace has its own regional flavours and tints.

Sweet or sour, misfortune happens, but it hurts when it is propelled by good willing yet not meticulous enough individuals or teams, when some common sense information was not highlighted, and when it was avoidable.
I was amazed observe such occasional sad outcomes in various market places, in Europe, North Africa, an Arabian Gulf  throughout my extensive experiences in Sales, marketing and business development.

No BRAND name is immunized against such Mega Goofs.
In the USA, The Super Bowl XLVI commercials are considered biggest marketing opportunity , where the major advertisers prepare huge budgets of production and  the most expensive airtime in te USA of not the world, to capture the opportunity to address 111.3M viewers on NBC ,and because of its high viewership, commercial airtime during the Super Bowl broadcast is the most expensive of the year. Due to the high cost of investing in advertising on the Super Bowl, companies regularly develop their most expensive advertisements for this broadcast. As a result, watching and discussing the broadcast's commercials has become a significant aspect of the event. In addition, many popular singers and musicians have performed during the event's pre-game and halftime ceremonies because of the exposure. ( In this year a spectacular show from Madonna , who even scored 4 Mil. More viewership the the event itself!!!

I have just read an interesting article about Samsung by Jared Newman ( Note to Samsung: The Pen Doesn't Sell), where he pointed out the dilemma of the reactions to the "once - in -a -lifetime" lost opportunity to promote the Galaxy Note smart phone ; where he said that Samsung's Super Bowl commercial had had the makings of greatness. Like the company's previous "Next Big Thing" ads, it attracted many geeks and Fans and had aroused millions of very curious and receptive captived audience. The shown stylus (pen like instrument). Stroke a negative chord in the US audience , simply it was perceived as an old technology that is now becoming obsolete.

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Here are the problems with using the pen as a selling point for Samsung's Galaxy Note:

It conjures memories of the Palm Pilot, a product and a brand that became obsolete a long time ago.

You can't explain the subtleties of the stylus in a flashy television commercial. The important detail — that it's used for specific applications and doesn't just work in place of your fingers — is lost upon the average viewer.

The stylus appeals to niche cases, like artists who want to sketch or journalists who want to take notes. Those are tricky ideas to convey to a large, mainstream audience, especially in the span of one TV commercial.
Having a pen means having an extra accessory to worry about — something viewers may consider as the actors pass their gadgets around for everyone to try.

Just a guess: nobody in the history of consumer electronics has ever squealed with amazement the words "IT'S GOT A PEN!?"

Obviously this brought a lot of comments and controversy.

ZDNet's Jason Perlow  had his own argument about this , and thinks that people should not dismiss the stylus just because of a bad commercial; and that he agrees that the stylus as a feature of the Galaxy Note. But in defending the pen, even Perlow comes up short on mainstream uses (for the Galaxy Note in particular). As a mass-market selling point, the stylus doesn't work.

His comments went even furthermore as he valued the Note features , as he wrote what Samsung should have advertised was the Galaxy Note's display — that beautiful, 5.3-in., 720-pixel Super AMOLED screen. I have seen the Galaxy Note up close. The screen is mesmerizing. While staring into it at CES 2012, I nearly forgot that the stylus existed.

Given the cult stereotype of Apple's biggest fans, Samsung could have easily played up the Galaxy Note's screen as a holy sight to behold.

The catch here is to apply some basic rules when it comes to image makers or breakers, bring on a trusted group representing the target audience's segments or tiers, potentially receiving your message ( avert., event or activity), have the group in a healthy motivational setting, comforting them enough to speak out, or even scream out their minds in sessions to brain storm conceptions and ideas, and let them mirror their reflections on the new message sought to be impacting the masses, before it is on air or online.

It is always useful to have fresh regional or local professional assessment, based on individuals rather than a system built on the Empire model of an firm or establishment,  bureaucracy and just do a job attitude, seek enthusiasm, local experience and diversification to get the most useful feed back.

However, Samsung Galaxy Note is intensively advertised in Egypt (price app. 5000 EGP) and Egyptians seem not to have issues with the 'pen'.