The No Hype Launch
Thursday, June 17th, 2004 by MR
Companies like to hype products before they launch. Why? They believe it will generate interest for their product and when it launches people will buy it. Another reason to do is to prevent customers from buying the competition’s product because they will wait for the next big thing.
When preparing to launch Business Logs we did some minor advertising on our own sites that did its job of generating interest without going overboard. We could have played it so that you would think that the “solutions” we were developing would solve every problem for you and your company. Mainly we talked about the company before it launched due to our own excitement. After receiving 10,000 page views in the first 12 hours of existence we realized we did something right.
However, this was not the perfect launch for me. My idea of a perfect launch would have been if we were capable of providing you with years upon years of content so that when you arrived at the site you would stay for hours reading and come back day after day to continue to read our content. However, seeing that we developed the site in less than 6 weeks this wasn’t an option.
Apple’s Secrets
Having years of content on a site that just launched with little hype would have been great because the site would have gone above and beyond what anyone could have imagined. When companies hype their products they begin to build unreachable expectations. One company that does it right is Apple.
Apple loves to keep its developments secret. This in turn leads to many rumors about their computers where expectations get built up to a degree that even Apple cannot match them. However, with its other developments (eg. iPod) Apple is capable of surprising everyone and building such a quality product that the hype begins after the launch where expectations are based on realistic use of the product.
In Apple’s case, how cool would it be for them to launch a blog with each new product where the blog already contained numerous entries of scenarios and tips for the product? Not only do you have the product to look forward to, but now you have the site to go to help build up the suspense even more and possibly convince you to purchase the product. Blogs can’t be used in every situation, but they can be used in a lot of them and that is why we are constantly searching for new ways to implement the technology.
It Depends
So is it better to not mention anything with regards to your products before they launch? Honestly, it depends on the market and who your competition is. Apple must remain secret because they are now entrenched in so many different industries that it is key for them to constantly innovate before the competition grabs wind of what they are doing.
I have been known to discuss new sites on Whitespace before they launch, not to build hype, but to get feedback on ideas. This has proven to be successful on more than one occassion. In this case it is okay to talk about (hype) something because I am not worried about any competition. Again the question of whether to hype a product or service lies in a case-by-case basis. Either way blogs can help magnify your decision if used correctly.
Reader Comments
4 Responses to “The No Hype Launch”
>generating interest without going overboard.
Excellent ethos.
Sweet site this - shaping nicely; and from which I learn daily.
Thanks, guys.
;-)
June 19th, 2004 at 3:13 am
I don’t equate “hype” with “talking about something”. The definition of hype relays exaggeration. If you are stretching the truth about your product or service then that is hype in my mind. The larger the separation between your “hyped product” and your “real product”, the greater the impact of the hype implosion back upon your company. This negative impact has been so dramatic within the computer gaming industry that more and more developers are keeping their lips sealed and only releasing information when they are absolutely sure of the realities of that information.
Creating “interest” is what it is all about. This interest attracts people to your company and your product or services. In the past, before the Web, large marketing campaigns were essential to spread the word about a product because people who used those products could only communicate with so many people. Today via the Web, customers who use a product can easily communicate their experiences with that product to hundreds if not thousands of people via forums or now through the blogging community. This has both a positive and negative effect with companies today however. It means that they don’t really have to spends a lot on advertising, but on the other side of the coin, their product better damn well be able to stand on its own two feet by itself because if it can’t, everyone will know about it.
June 21st, 2004 at 1:16 am
Well said Nollind and I agree. Surprisingly the word can get spread faster and cheaper through a new medium, but the potential for crisis also increases.
This is what surprises me about Microsoft’s strategy concerning Longhorn. It’s still at least another year away, yet they have been talking about it for some time now along with the latest and greatest features it’s promising to offer. Sounds exactly like the computer gaming industry.
June 21st, 2004 at 4:38 am
Information released on Longhorn is a perfect example of the “hype machine” in motion. Microsoft is releasing information about a product that isn’t even remotely close to being released. They continually talk about features but then these features get cut back or removed all together to realistically meet the time line of the future release of the product. And your right this is exactly what happens in the gaming industry or even worse (i.e. the customer doesn’t find out that features have been removed or don’t work until they actually install the game).
Just as a side note, I’m a new Apple users myself and I’m loving it. I picked up an iBook and an AirPort Extreme Base Station and I wish I had a ton of money because I’d buy the same setup for everyone in my family if I could. I love that I’m not tied down to a desk anymore and versatility of the iBook combined with iLife is so very sweet. I even picked up one of the M-Audio Keystation 49e MIDI keyboards to fool around with GarageBand because I used to own a syth before and compose my own music.
Why did I switch? Even though I knew how to use and configure Windows XP and computers with ease (i.e. used to be a systems support officer for the government) I just got tired of all the viruses and updates that sometimes caused more problems then they fixed. Also Windows XP didn’t seem to be going anywhere, so I thought what the hell I’ll make the jump and I don’t regret it for a second. I even sold off my old computer to a buddy of mine. He even wants to switch as well but can’t right now because of his investment in Windows software. One nice thing though is that Adobe offers a cross-platform version upgrade, so you upgrade your Windows Adobe software to the Mac version. Very sweet! Not too many companies are doing this. Macromedia isn’t, so I told them I wouldn’t be purchasing their software again.
June 22nd, 2004 at 2:07 am
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