Comments for Innovation Minute

Comment on No, I don’t want to buy a car wash by Rocco Tarasi

Rocco Tarasi — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 02:49:04 +0000

I appreciate your opinion, and I agree that if I wanted a car wash it would certainly be more convenient for me to buy it at the pump. However, when the computer asks me if I want to buy a car wash BEFORE I am able to pump my gas, and I have to answer no before I can continue, that is clearly designed to increase the number of car washes that the station sells. It is simply an annoying marketing strategy, like how TV commercials are broadcast at a louder volume than the show you are watching, or how the different subscription post cards fall out of your magazine when you are reading it, or how a magazine will begin sending you renewal notices 8 months before it expires, or how any ecommerce site you buy from sends you daily emails trying to get you to shop again, and on and on.

The issue that I’m pointing out is forcing me to say “no” if I don’t want a car wash, as 99%+ of every person that goes to a gas station will do. However, if your gas station does it differently – if say after I start pumping my gas the screen asks if I want to buy a car wash, and if I don’t do anything then that message will simply go away… well then that would be just fine with me. And just to be clear, I completely understand why a business does this – I’m just saying that most consumers hate it.

Comment on No, I don’t want to buy a car wash by Rose

Rose — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:29:34 +0000

I just found this article and I find that you are being totally closed minded. As a manager of a successful gas station I can tell you that 90% of my customers buy a carwash at the pump- it is more convient for the customer to buy it at the pump that way they don’t have to go inside stand in line and then purchase a carwash. The purchasing of a carwash is not an upselling technique it is a convience to the consumer. The ads that flash through the screen while the consumer is purchasing fuel is the upsell.

Comment on The world is upside down: Google’s smart product launch strategy and Apple’s misstep by Rocco Tarasi

Rocco Tarasi — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 13:11:40 +0000

John, great analysis in your article. I certainly agree with your premise: it is important to decide what not to do, those decisions are not easy to make, and Apple does have a history of doing that well.

It’s a fascinating contradiction: on the one hand Apple has the foresight to control new technologies ahead of everyone else (see today’s story at http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-supply-chain-2011-7?op=1), on the other hand they purposely lag introducing certain components like NFC in the iPhones or a camera in the first iPad. For the record I don’t disagree with any of those moves, they are brilliant at balancing the introduction of a product that everyone wants with the ability to within 12 months introduce an upgrade that everyone wants again.

I’m not going to go so far as to say they didn’t misstep here though. Even if their actions were 100% calculated, I don’t believe they predicted how negative the pro reaction would be, and they’ve admitted as much by saying they’ll bring back some of the cut features. I think they’re talented enough to design a product to appease their current pro users without making it too difficult for the average user. I think there is a little bit of the Apple “arrogance” (see: attennagate) showing through in this story too.

Comment on The world is upside down: Google’s smart product launch strategy and Apple’s misstep by John R. Moran

John R. Moran — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:59:59 +0000

Rocco – I read Apple’s “failure” a little differently – as actually part of a conscious strategy. Check out my short analysis at http://rampantinnovation.com/ for an alternate viewpoint.

Would love to know what you think.

Comment on Flip video recorder: Disruptor, but for how long? by Blogging Innovation » Flipped – Wish I was always this right

Blogging Innovation » Flipped – Wish I was always this right — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 04:03:44 +0000

[...] years ago, in the second post I ever wrote, I wrote about the Flip Video [...]

Comment on Flip video recorder: Disruptor, but for how long? by Innovation Minute » Blog Archive » I wish I was as right about everything as I was about the Flip

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:10:24 +0000

[...] years ago, in the second post I ever wrote on Innovation Minute, I wrote about the Flip Video camera: Add video recorders to the list of industries being disrupted by “good enough” products that, [...]

Comment on Google is now using stickers to take over the world by Promotional Products and Location-Based Social Networking | InkHead Promotional Products Blog

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:53:09 +0000

[...] first example, from December 2009, may be a little out-of-date, but I’m sure it helped the businesses in [...]

Comment on Turning annoying CAPTCHAs into not-so-annoying but oh-so-profitable ads by Innovation Minute » Blog Archive » 100 Things To Watch in 2011 [JWT]

Innovation Minute » Blog Archive » 100 Things To Watch in 2011 [JWT] — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:48:34 +0000

[...] CAPTCHA Advertising. I wrote about that one a few months [...]

Comment on What happens when we are all reduced to an algorithm? by So when we’re each simply an algorithm to be unearthed, what happens next? | Claude Penland – Webmaster & Actuary

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 20:17:22 +0000

[...] Good article at Innovation Minute: What happens when we are all reduced to an algorithm? [...]

Comment on Retailers Choose to be Naughty or Nice by Rocco Tarasi

Rocco Tarasi — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 18:16:01 +0000

I haven’t bought at PetSmart because I don’t have a pet, but I’m glad to hear they have the program too. It would be great if over time more and more retailers do this – the grocery store, gas station, dry cleaner, etc. They could even rotate the charity every day or week – the grocery store for example might be raising food for the local food bank one week, and children’s hospital the next week.