I think Creative,iriver and some others should advertise more!

[mr.karmalicious]

Rio doesn't even have a marketing team.

 

[BigFil]

I think part of the reason Apple has been succesful with the iPod is the word of mouth advertising. How many articles and reviews has the public read about the iPod? Alot, and they are mostly good, talking about how the easy and enjoyable the thing is to use. Then these same people talk to their neighbor who got one and explain how much they love their iPod. Not to mention every review written about any other brand of player, no matter how good it is, seems to reference the iPod in it somewhere. The Rio's, iRiver's, and Creative's all have excellent players at this point in the game and some like Creative have a pretty impressive ad budget, but none of them have the same word of mouth self propogating recognition that the iPod has created. The best advertising in the world is good word of mouth. Creative, iRiver, and Rio should work on building that first, then back it up with advertising. How many people who never heard about an iPod do you think bought one becuase they saw a black sillouette dancing around? They have already heard about them, or used a friends, then the job of the dancing sillouettes or any other ad campaign was just to reinforce the name and keep it out there.

 

[allenf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hasselhoffia Have to disagree here, Creative have been seriously thumping the adverts here in London recently. The Metro newspaper, a daily freebie read by thousands of London commuters each day has had Micro ads in it on and off for ages. Was watching MTV (UK) the other night and one of the programs was sponsored by Creative Micro. I can't recall the last time I saw an iPod advert to tell you the truth.

Huge pre-xmas billboard @ Old Street roundabout for the Hoxton Mullet Trendsetter Crew featuring the "Lenny Kravitz" lookalike silhouette.

Huge pre-xmas billboard @ Theobalds Road for the students in Holborn featuring the "Foxy Chick" silhouette.

I'm sure there are more - and I am also sure that the agency responsible for the placing did not pick those sites just because the frontage was available...

Apple markets a lifestyle choice supremely well - like every other "Premium Brand" - that is why they are where they are today. This even extends to the packaging.

By contrast, "straight" product shots printed on low-quality colour newsprint are not going to generate any kind of significant momentum in changing peoples (general public) perception of the Zen Micro - no matter how "good" the Zen actually is (and I'm sure that it is very good).

This is the difference between "marketing" and "advertising".
"Advertising" brings a product to the attention of potential customers.
"Marketing" is about raising brand awareness - and if a brand is already perceived as good, the product will sell itself even if better alternatives exist for some of the customers.

Also, I can't help but notice the explosion in iBud usage on public transport in London since xmas - or is that just because I got mine for xmas too?

 

[Guust-Fi]

If big dap manufacturers would spend their budget on development instead of advertising, they would come up with a better mp3 player and almost no advertising would be necessary imo.
In the begining it wouldn't be very popular but when magazines start writing reviews and article's and come to the conclusion that it is a much better product than Apple's Ipod line, people will start talking about it, it well sell, and in the end they could spend the money they earned on advertising if they want to make it even more popular.
Bicycles for example, do you see advertising for them? I don't believe I ever saw a commercial about bikes. But everybody knows that Trek or Giant for example are good brands, right?
People talk about it, and when something becomes too popular people want something else and they search for a better product. If they can't find anything better at first sight, of course there only option will be an Ipod in this case.
Generally speaking an Ipod is easy to operate and that's what makes it so popular. Do you care? I do not. If they like it, who cares?
Fyi I do not have anything against Ipod, it's a good product, but I'd just be happier with something else.

 

[daphox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuXXy In a year or two the situation could change.

Not even in a lifetime...

 

[Frank M]

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenf Also, I can't help but notice the explosion in iBud usage on public transport in London since xmas - or is that just because I got mine for xmas too?

Yes, you should be looking less at the mirror

 

[allenf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank M Yes, you should be looking less at the mirror

Lol!
I was sort-of being tongue-in-cheek, but there suddenly seems to be a lot of iPods around in London

 

[allenf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guust-Fi If big dap manufacturers would spend their budget on development instead of advertising, they would come up with a better mp3 player and almost no advertising would be necessary imo. In the begining it wouldn't be very popular but when magazines start writing reviews and article's and come to the conclusion that it is a much better product than Apple's Ipod line, people will start talking about it, it well sell, and in the end they could spend the money they earned on advertising if they want to make it even more popular.

When the iPod Shuffle was first announced, it was ridiculed and laughed at in forums everywhere by geeks who, despite their obvious intelligence, just don't get marketing.

The shuffle is a really really clever bit of niche marketing, and it has a pocket-change ££, and if it was your first player, and consequently you have then become familiar with iTunes/iTMS, and you decide you want a "full-size" player...hello iPod.

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utdeep OK, One thing no ones mentioned is that BOTH Creative and iRiver have terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible advertising campaigns.

Basically you've said it all

I went to the iRiver site before reading your post, and after getting angry about the loading time I got angry that the flash "book" took zero advantage of my screensize while enerving me with having to tilt my head in order to read. I was also puzzled by the "sweeter one" slogan (basically they try to mock Apple, don't they? That is sad, because it means they have to use Apple's popularity as their base from which to promote their own product, meaning they lack identity), and confused that the first page of the book mentions "six flavours", but only presents four colors. Ahhh, they meant those bookmarks... all in all the site is nifty and stylish and I would like it if this was some art project, but not for presenting a product. It's difficult to navigate and I constantly have the feeling of missing information.
I also had a look on the Creative spots, and I can well see why they are not aired outside brit markets. They are populated with ugly & worn out looking people I do not want to be associated with. People who have bizarre problems. People who are clearly not having fun. They tell longish & complicated yet pointless stories. They say very little about the product.

Apple's spots say next to nothing about iPod too, but they communicate a feeling, they stand out of the mass of other spots and they hit you like a train doing so. "Boom", as Steve sais.

Another thing striking me are the names of those products, and the product structure, iRiver is just as bad as Sony there. "Behold my iMP-700(T)". What the hell is that? How shall I ever imagine that something called "N10" actually is quite a beautyful product? At least there seems to be some kind of structure in the naming. Creative has better names at first glance, but the subnames are just as terrible. Both brands have too many products. Creative has some 26(!) players, half of which look almost identical, and I stopped counting the iRivers as I noticed each "series" has several different products. There is something like too much choice and it's called confusion.

 

[Kirosia]

I've yet to see or hear a creative/rio/iriver as on tv. I've seen some posters in the subway in boston, but that's it. I think they are ********* themselves over. Perhaps they fear apple + sony, I don't know. Still, they make good products, so they should do something other than sittin' on their asses in the US of A. Can they beat apple? Once again, don't know. But if they don't at least try they're asking to get their asses handed to them.

(Also, I think the apple commercials are incredibly stupid, hell most of the "people" they show in them would never even touch an ipod, which is sadly a social symbol. But they (the commercials) do have an appeal which I can understand.)

 

[Oliver :)]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kirosia Also, I think the apple commercials are incredibly stupid, hell most of the "people" they show in them would never even touch an ipod

Huh? I think those "people", "them" being professional dancers or rock stars, are highly likely to own portable audio devices, and why shouldn't that be an iPod?

 

[dynamius]

well sorry for bringing back an old thread, but i just thought i'd share this... dunno if it's been mentioned before

http://www.creative.com/tvc/

personally, i think they could've done a WAAAYYYYY better job... doesn't looks too appealing. what would you think if you saw that on tv?