BARRETT@owl.ecil.iastate.edu (Marc Barrett) (06/16/90)
Someone mentioned the possibility of the CDTV worsening Commodore's image as being a 'game machine' company. Believe it or not, I don't think it will. This may sound incredible, coming from someone who hasn't exactly remained silent on the issue of Commodore's image as marketing mainly 'game machines', but I think the CDTV is enough of a departure from anything Commodore has ever marketed before that I don't think this will be a problem. In order to succeed, Commodore has to market this thing in a way they've never marketed anything ever before. This thing has to be sold as a CD player or stereo unit, and not a single unit should ever appear in any Commodore dealer, or with any other computers or computer systems in department stores. Unfortunately, the name 'Commodore' is very thoroughly locked into most people's minds as a computer company, and nothing (not even millions of dollars of advertizing) will EVER change this. When most people think of 'Commodore', they think of the computer in the kid's room. If Commodore tries to market this thing under the 'Commodore' name, they will fail. Commodore wants to sell this thing as a home entertainment and multimedia system for adults. But most adults still remember the old Commodore 64 commercials, and none of them would want to buy such a system from Commodore. To them, Commodore is a company that markets machines for kids. Fortunately, there is a very easy and cheap way around this. All Commodore has to do is spin-off a subsidiary company that will be totally responsible for the marketing of this machine. The subsidiary will be a paper company, and wouldn't really exist. But all advertizing, all packaging for this product, and all copyright notices for this product would have the name of this company on them, and not the name 'Commodore'. The name of this subsidiary should be something very short and catchy. It should be something people will remember easily, and something that people will not connect easily with computers. I can't think of anything off-hand, but I think Commodore's advertizing agencies could. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | BITNET: BARRETT%FOREST.ECIL.IASTATE.EDU@ISUVAX | MARC N. BARRETT | | Internet: BARRETT@FOREST.ECIL.IASTATE.EDU | Undergraduate Student | | SnailMail : 2923 Oakland St. | Ames, Iowa 50010 | Computer Engineering | | TelCo : (515) 292-7270 | Iowa State University | | Fido : Marc Barrett (1:285/614.0) |-----------------------| |--------------------------------------------------| THIS SPACE FOR RENT | | LAST BOOK READ : |-----------------------| | In Search of Schrodinger's Cat : Quantum Physics and Reality | |--------------------------------------------------------------------------| | BEEFS : | | Short Signatures, Whitewashed O.S.'s, Shells without Menus | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------