World Records – The New Marketing Tool

World Record – the two words together conjure up an image of something done extraordinarily – head and shoulders above the mundane. Obviously, such a proposition would definitely attract marketers – who would like to project their products and brands as a cut above the rest – a spirit best signified by a world record. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before enterprising marketers would seek to establish world records with their products and services – to provide that all important “bragging right” – probably a matter of great significance in the cut throat world of product differentiation.

And that time has already arrived. Over the last few years, there have been many attempts to establish world records by leading companies – so as to later claim in advertisements that the product is the best at a particular job. Indeed, this trend has been astutely recognized by the Guinness World Records – the ultimate purveyors of world record feats. The Guinness promotes a special “package” wherein they seek to guide any world record creating efforts, and also produce them in a professional manner – so that they can be later promoted through marketing and advertising.

Of course, the basic premise of such a record breaking or creating effort is simple – the exercise should be directly relatable to a product USP. Unless this requirement is met, the record feat will simply not register in the minds of public, and the effort is likely to go waste.

For example, when the blockbuster Dreamworks produced animation movie Megamind was released in 2010, the promoters wanted to create an event that would immediately appeal to superhero fans, as well as create a buzz around the word “Mega”. As a solution, the largest gathering of superheroes was planned – a premise that gelled beautifully with the movie storyline. Adults and kids responded in big numbers, and a total of 1,580 people dressed as superheroes turned up – creating a world record. The event got very good coverage – estimated at over 58 million impressions over the first three days of the ad campaign.

Similarly, Jack Daniel’s – makers of the famous Old No 7 whiskey planned to create seven new world records to commemorate the famous brand, and to celebrate the founders 161sy birthday in a quirky, fun filled manner signifying the “spirit” (pun intended) of the brand. So, world records were created in the categories of – most contributions to a greeting card, largest glass bottle mosaic, largest bottle of whiskey, most bottles played in a bottle orchestra, most people blowing out candles together, and building a 20 shot glass pyramid in the quickest possible time.

LG – the global consumer electronics giant had started an LG World Record campaign way back in July – to promote the product innovation in various categories. For example, LG Smart TVs – that have the thinnest bezels, or the LG LTE Smartphones – where LG holds the largest number of patents. To create an association with customers, LG has created a team of friendly animated characters called LG WR Men, which explains the benefits and features of LG products to end users over online media.

Samsung has also joined the fray of world records, though its recent effort to promote Samsung Galaxy Note II is somewhat intriguing, considering that it is not associated with any product USP – thus contradicting the basic premise that a world record feat should be directly relatable to some product USP. Samsung is calling upon its users to break and already existing world record of largest number of artists collaborating on a single art installation. Incidentally, the original charity sponsored world record was set by more than 200,000 children earlier in 2012 in UK. Probably Samsung is not seeking to highlight any product USP; rather it simply wants to be associated with a world record.

OLED TV’s delayed till 2013: Disappointing or Inevitable?

If you are even a little bit inclined towards the technological advancements in TV technology, you will be aware by now that the war is between the new age LED panels and Plasma panels with LCD taking a backseat. I constantly go through tech forums everyday and it’s the same old brand debate that going on every single day. While the majority is open to a healthy comparative discussion, there are always a few stubborn seasoned members who solely deride certain brands in favor of others and the noobs on these forums get ostracized more often than not.

As exceptional as LED 3D TV’s are these days, there’s no denying the fact that Plasma is still better in terms of pure picture quality. But it was all supposed to change this year with the arrival of OLED TV’s. These units do not only boast of extremely vivid picture quality but they also have the slim form factor to go along with it. Just to clarify how the technologies work, both Plasma and OLED do not need any backlighting. Plasma has ionized charges in their cells while OLED is made of organic cathodes; both emit light when electricity is applied. The major difference is, the Plasma setup is bulky and an energy guzzler while it’s the opposite for OLED displays.

 

 

The CES 2012 and IFA 2012 both witnessed the showcase of 55” LG OLED TV as well as the Samsung OLED TV and after wooing the audiences for quite some time now, it was largely expected that mass units will be shipped in the final quarter of 2012. But that was just an estimated analysis while the actual situation has panned out differently. Both the players despite the successful unveiling the plans for commercial shipments have been scrapped. The OLED TV’s will be shipped in very small numbers by this year’s end and the real splash will be made probably by mid-2013. The primary reason for this rescheduling has been the poor manufacturing yield of OLED displays for both the Korean giants. And there’s a good reason behind it. We have already been acquainted to OLED by the AMOLED screens used in high-end Smartphones. The size of the task that lies behind replicating a display technology which has been perfected for mobile use to a much larger screen apt enough for a TV display is pretty daunting. While a showcased OLED TV might have looked great, the mass production of these TV’s is an entirely different cup of tea altogether.

Maybe the question I have posed in the post title is not too relevant as this delay is inevitably disappointing. The first lot of the new TV’s always comes as a premium and its only with the increased ubiquity that the prices become affordable. That means that owning an OLED TV (if you ever want to) has been delayed by yet another year or two for an enthusiastic mid-segment consumer like me. But hey, it’s a technology worth waiting so I am not worried too much about this pit-stop.