What’s The Buzz?

I understand the concept of marketing and having been in the media for the past twenty-some years I can even appreciate the boon to a marketing campaign that news coverage can give to a product launch. I am sure that you know the product I am referring to so I am not about to add to the free publicity by mentioning the company (named as it may be after a certain fruit with biblical ties) or the product.

What this screed is about is more the strange steps that news organizations have been going to to give the free publicity to this company and its as-of-this-writing unrevealed next cool toy. Granted, the company has a track history of turning-out cool toys that become the "IT" thing and granted, I will admit to owning one of these cool gadgets and enjoying it thoroughly. But let's not forget that this company has had some disastrously ill-conceived and unpopular products in the past as well. (If you can't figure-out this reference, I will gladly email them to you…)

What I find ridiculous (and I mean that literally as a valid target for ridicule) is the time I have seen (and heard) wasted in talking about a product that nobody has seen. Like the Six Blind Men Of Hindustan it's meaningless to discuss.

The epoch of this meaningless was a completely pointless wrap-up! The actual quote that I heard (and had to hit the rewind button on the DVR because I could not believe they reporter had said it) came at the end of a three-and-a-half minute piece in the network news yesterday.

The reporter had been interviewing fanatics of this company and its products and various other prognosticators. After getting a number of suggestions as to what the company would reveal, the reporter concluded the piece by restating the three prevailing views that had been enumerated in the piece and concluded his outro with the phrase "...or it could be something completely different." He then tossed it back to the anchor.

Let’s look at that logically. This sentence breaks down to: "X is equal to a, b, c, or some other value." It conveys no actual information. It is a logical and conversational null. Though it did introduce the name of the company a few more times, so the company got some free publicity from it.

Oh well, the mystery will soon be solved… the cat will be out of the bag. As for me, I am not holding my breath or anything.

Wherever you are today, I hope that the anticipation isn’t killing you!

Don Bergquist – January 27, 2010 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA