Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!udel!mmdf From: gaspar@stl-08sima.army.mil (Al Gaspar) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: CBM Advertising (Was: Re: I've had it with CBM!) Message-ID: <8983@nigel.udel.EDU> Date: 23 Jan 90 14:33:00 GMT Sender: mmdf@udel.EDU Lines: 49 Sun Kun Kim writes: > Me too! However, I resent your statement about pimpy teenagers. Now I know how the 'kids' afford their Amigas... ;-) > ...On the more serious side of the spectrum, I > think Commodore marketing really stinks. They use all the big names and > spend all that hard-earned dollars into a mediocre Ad campaign. I don't > think they used their funds wisely. First of all, they spent a BIG > chunk of the dough(was it 20 million?) to sign 'big shots' at Hollywood > as well as Washington. This is was a mistake in the fact that the > commercials really did not show the capabilities of the machine. ...[Deleted] > People want facts and not famous faces.... Remember that advertising is an "art not a science" (cliche #1). In advertising you "sell the sizzle, not the steak" (cliche #2). The competition (Apple, IBM, et al.) sells as much on perception as on fact. In an advertisement of any type you have a limited time to catch the audience's attention and make your point; so you tend to work towards limited goals such as recognition. People don't read magazines or watch television mainly for the advertisements; they are watching a program or reading an article. You are interrupting them. The use of celebrities to push product is a recognized ploy; people pay good money for those persons because it continues to work. You use the celebrities' recognition to gain attention and build your product's recognition, credibility, and image. This is not to say that CBM's campaign was good (the results are not in yet). However, it was definitely a better approach than selling the Amiga on facts would have been. Remember, at least in advertising, facts are boring (cliche #3) :-). It is probably too early, but has anyone heard how sales did over Christmas? Cheers-- Al -- Al Gaspar (used to be ) USAMC SIMA, ATTN: AMXSI-TTC, Box 1578, St. Louis, MO 63188-1578 COMMERCIAL: (314) 263-5646 AUTOVON: 693-5646 uunet.uu.net!stl-08sima.army.mil!gaspar