To what extent are our product choices rational? Which elements of our conscious or sub-conscious thinking could be factors that determine our selections? What makes a product "cool"?"A whole new business called neuro-marketing is already using brain imaging to seek out the hidden motives behind our consumer desires" - Alan Alda on Scientific American Frontiers.See the details online in this You Tube video.
I'm not yet 50 but I want one. Nor can I lindy-hop but I plan to learn (among other things planned for my retirement years). So the Jitterbug ad gets my attention every time. But here on the Internet are objectors to the JB ad, of the view that it's "insulting to seniors"? What's a product manager to do about marketing to the over-50's? It's an interesting challenge that quickly raises questions about which statistics can make demographic information useful for market planning and product development purposes.
Now this really is disappointing, in the sense that expectations for the "electronic version" of any famous literature are always high. We imagine high-speed, on-screen access to every chapter and brilliant, high resolution, printable images that will absorb us for hours (or convenient minutes) at our leisure.
So when I searched for and found NatGeo on CD's I was ready to buy....until I read the reviews. See for yourself and tell me. What was their marketing department thinking? Isn't New Product Development an art and a science, with built-in methodology for preventing this type of buyer's remorse?
"The products are extremely impressive and seem to be the ultimate in the application of design, technology and materials. However, most of the amputees I know or see do not have insurance. How can they benefit from these products?" - R.S. Siegel comment on Business Week article Design That Walks The Line.
"My leg is a large part of what I am, but it does not define who I am" - Scout Basset, Men's Health Magazine, August 2008.
Photo by Tim Mantoani
Often a good product is improved by accessories or upgrades. It's a pleasure to see collaboration between design groups and product teams where the results meet new customer needs. The story of an i-Pod speaker system design & launch can be read here.
Just how sensitive and loud should these things be? Sensitive enough to detect the feather-light touch of a careful burglar and loud enough to reach the owner's ears 20 miles away it seems. Although "the intensity of noise diminishes with distance" the irritation surely increases with time. If the alarm sensitivity can be adjusted at all (see comment), it might prevent passing cars and barking dogs restarting the blaring sirens.
It used to be that the horizontal bar on a road bicycle was just that until about 2001 when that "top tube" took on a new slant. Is it a style issue or there some measurable performance benefits like better handling, comfort or fit. Evidently the re-design is good for manufacturers and customers alike, although insights and opinions on the details vary here and there as follows:
> Why the sloping top tube?
> What impact does the top tube angle have on the bike?
> Compact vs. normal frame geometry.
