Monday, January 26, 2015

The Inventor

Big organisations tend to attract large numbers of pitches from people who claim to have invented a new wonder product.

In previous marketing roles within large multi-national corporations I was frequently called upon to help company directors evaluate these inventions. Today the TV show Dragon's Den provides some outlet for the enthusiasm of the inventor and would be entrepreneur plus the opportunity to win investment capital and just as important expert advice. Typically the approach was made to the most senior people in our organization based on the fear that they didn't in years to come want to be known as the person who failed to recognise something which would emerge as a winner. In my experience, most ideas were neither novel or good and the inventors deluded and whacky.

The pitches were highly unprofessional and the inventors  hated being questioned and seemed amazed we didn't bite their hands off to buy the product. One example was someone who had taken a tungsten halogen flood light that we sold by the tens of thousands for under £10, attached a length of electrical conduit as a stand and a car wheel complete with tyre as a base. This was sitting in the chairman's office to which I  had been summoned to give an opinion. The inventor in this case was chairman of a major company!

A more bizarre example was an Australian who had a small package the size of a box of matches which allegedly contained a high frequency electronic ballast. A large audience had been assembled to witness the demonstration, which apparently showed a fluorescent tube being dimmed. We were all kept at least 10 yards away so we couldn't really see what he was up to. It was not a new technology at the time but was kind of complicated with patents  so we were evaluating different ideas. However, our inventor refused to discuss the technology or let us peek at the electronics without paying a million pound first. Not surprisingly neither he or his invention were ever seen again!

Monday, January 12, 2015

The Wall Planners have arrived

Some trade magazines around this time of year are mailed out with a folded up Wall Planner.

Included in the polythene envelope, along with the advertising material that many recipients open above a waste bin, are the 2015 wall planners. In case you are unfamiliar with the wall planner, they are basically a year's calendar surrounded by advertisements. Advertising space is often sold on the promise that the brand is in front of the target audience for a full a twelve months. Great value. Except, how many people actually stick them on an office wall. How many people actually have an office wall anyway? 

With many people working in open plan offices, at low level partitioned work stations or in a corner office with glass walls, there is limited wall space to stick these large posters. And be honest they don't look particularly elegant and get shabbier as the year progresses. But people still advertise on these wall planners. Why? Even before electronic calendars that sync with various desk top and portable devices the value was doubtful.

What is amazing that wall planners haven't gone the way of Reader Response cards and Fax backs. At least with those you could track the response!