There is nothing as great as a demonstration that goes well, and nothing as embarrassing as a demonstration that flops. I’ll leave out names, but a couple of special “moments” pop up during my tenure as the “digital edge” guy on NBC4, Washington.
One demo was of a digital picture frame. It was actually kind of cool. The frame had an IP address, meaning it could be updated remotely. The head of the company said he could send a picture of his kid playing soccer to a digital picture frame at the grandparents in Korea. Did he have a picture of his kid playing soccer, or a quickly updating frame? No. The demo was lame, and could have been great.
In the early days of cell phone wars, demos were all the rage. We were way beyond the 3-watt analog bag phone days and were going digital. It seems like a new model of phone was coming out every month. Sprint and Verizon were very media savvy and were always pushing to do a demo of the latest phones and what they could do. (emphasis on could).
The problem for Sprint was that their “PCS” sites were smaller in radius than “cells,” so they needed more site to cover the same area. The nearest Sprint site wasn’t all that close to my station – so demos had a tendency to run on the slow side - if at all. They eventually were able to locate a site a bit closer.
Longtime followers of wireless networks will remember that Verizon’s mantra early on was “it’s all about the network” and “can you hear me now?” There is still some of that same flavor with the “map wars” between Verizon and AT&T that grace a lot of TV screens. But the emphasis has shifted to “what can you do” and what cool phone can you use to do it, how many apps are out there – the speed of the network so that live video looks really good.
Yes, coverage is still an issue, but I don’t think it’s #1. And it used to be the wireless companies were the big dogs carefully selecting which phones and which applications would be allowed to run on their networks. Wow, what a switch. Now they get told by the bigger dogs - the entertainment companies that used to be computer companies.
I remember a conversation with a Sprint media representative, who said 15 years ago that we would be looking at our mobile phones more than talking into them. He was so right. I think many people pull out their phone/Blackberry/iPhone to check email even when they know there's nothing new. The seems many people only use their phones to make calls when they "drive." It’s what we do.
Sit down for a moment and watch people come and go. Most of them are looking at their phones, checking email, updating Facebook, tweeting, checking in using Foursquare, or even watching a movie. It’s either an addiction or another ploy not to make eye contact with the people around them. (Better to connect with people far away from them – and update their status for the benefit of their tribe, group or network).
Say “hello” to someone on the street and they’ll recoil. Try to “friend” them on Facebook and they’ll accept. Hmmmm.
Back to the demos. Had a PR guy say he had pictures/videos of his client on his iPad. It’s great to sport an iPad – it’s a perfect platform to show prospective clients/buyers a picture or video to close the deal. This guy had the iPad – cool – but couldn’t find the pictures. While devices are cool, content is still king. At least that’s my take.
Always check your demo to be sure the content is there and easily findable.
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