In what on-lookers are calling advertising’s most sadistic twist to date, TiVo has hired the independent San Francisco ad agency Grant, Scott, and Hurley to create the advertising that will, if successful, ultimately end advertising as we know it. [Adrants]
Interesting, but as I know I’ve said before the money (10-12 million) would be better spent on some reasonable education of the device. Commercial skipping is just a feature… sure a big one, but really just a detail.
The real magic (to me) is in watching what and when you want. If I was them… I would look to target new parents with some good old direct marketing. As a new parent I can tell you first hand that watching television when things are on, is almost impossible. There is always something baby related that forces any hope of watching an evening show to another time or day. Sure we skip the commercials when we time-shift, but that’s not why we have the box.
We actually own a Series 1 TiVO but have basically retired it based on our use of the Scientific Atlanta 8000 from Time Warner. It’s hard to beat integrated guide functionality, and no initial buy-in. You can look at the cost of ownership as simply the addition of a premium channel or two…
TiVO has their work cut out for them. Sure they (and Replay) defined the DVR market, but never made it into a mass market…. The installed boxes are going to keep coming from the Cable Cos…. unless there is a compelling reason to upgrade and pay much more to basically get the same thing. You can’t afford to waste money promoting something your competitors (and your customers cable company can offer. Go for the heart strings in the logical target groups… new parents are just the first hit.