Time For The "Apple-Style" Product Launch?
Our NAIAS preview post revealed a common theme of dissatisfaction with the slow-striptease style of product reveals, where manufacturers “leak” teaser shots ad nauseam in the run-up to a product launch. It seems the readers are tired of it, and frankly, I am too. So what’s to be done about it?
Reader Jaydez summed up the collective discontent occurring among enthusiasts with respect to the slow reveal
Unfortunately with all the advance attention that all new cars get between “leaks” spy shots, and guesses, nothing is a surprise when it is revealed with smoke and fireworks on a stage. I’m bored with it all. I wish at least one company would use the Apple model for revealing new products. Don’t release ANY information and make sure your employees abide by that too. Reveal it on stage at a big event, like the NAIAS, and follow it with, “you can build it online tonight. Order it at your dealer tomorrow. Production is already underway and deliveries will begin in 2 weeks.
THAT would be worth tuning in for. Until then I will just look at the pictures with the same unenthusiastic manner I have been in the last few years.
I for one, would welcome a return to the days when a new product launch was a big event. You had to wait for one of the buff books to do a feature on it, or perhaps log on to a poorly laid out car site to see a grainy digital image of the car. The real OGs no doubt remember one crappy snapshot appearing in the local paper’s Auto section.
But the current system of annoying teasers is here to stay. The key thing to recognize with this problem is that the slow reveal benefits two parties; the OEMs, who get “exposure” for the “brand” and most importantly, auto bloggers. I wrote a brief rant about this in February, but the point remains the same
It’s a symbiotic relationship between the OEM and the media that’s unlikely to change, given the dysfunctional economics of blogging, that rewards speed, sensationalism and superficial content (which generate clicks) over the kind of slow, measured, in-depth work that the foundations of real in-depth journalism are built on. The kind of content that takes time and money to produce, bores many readers because it’s over 800 words long and often gets displaced in the article hierarchy because a new Toyonda Camcord Juicy Couture Special Edition was released and if we’re not first at re-hashing the press release and stock photos, we’ll be rendered irrelevant.
Jaydez’s formula for a highly secretive launch with no leaks could very well lead to the same kind of frenzied hype – perhaps intensified due to the lack of information available. The less reputable blogs could even resort to the same sort of conjecture and rumors that tech blogs fall back on in the run-up to an Apple launch. It’s not like they don’t already publish erroneous and incorrect automotive info anyways. Unfortunately, it’s unlike that any of the OEMs will take the first step, since the current formula seems to be “working”.
More by Derek Kreindler
Latest Car Reviews
Read moreLatest Product Reviews
Read moreRecent Comments
- Wolfwagen I have worked as a manager in both union and non-union locations. The best union employees were the ones who were indifferent to the union or told them to get bent. The worst ones were the ones who would run to the union for every little thing, even when it was their own actions that caused the problem or because they could not understand their own contract
- Harry HOW i RECOVER MY LOST OR STOLEN FUNDS:You should gather and document all relevant details about the theft, such as transaction IDs, wallet addresses, and any communication with the scammer if any, and then proceed to message SYLVESTER. G. BRYANT to get back your lost/ stolen funds by sharing the evidence you've compiled. he was the only one who was able to recover my funds I was so surprised he got back my money worth $52k but glory be to God and all thanks to him.. here is his contact below: Instagram: Yt7crackerszEmail: Yt7crackersz@ gmail,com
- Daniel J I had read an article several years ago that one of the issues that workers were complaining about with this plant is that 1/3 of the workforce were temporary workers. They didn't have the same benefits as the other 2/3 of the employees. Will this improve this situation or make it worse? Do temporary workers get a vote?I honestly don't care as long as it is not a requirement to work at the plant.
- Kosmo Tragic. Where in the name of all that is holy did anybody get the idea that self-driving cars were a good idea? I get the desire for lane-keeping, and use it myself, occasionally, but I don't even like to look across the car at my passenger while driving, let along relinquish complete control.
- Bof65705611 There’s one of these around the corner from me. It still runs…driven daily, in fact. That fact always surprises me.
Comments
Join the conversation
None of this is going to change, the car companies couldn't do it if they wanted to. 1. You can't road test cars in secret. You can't do it indoors. 2. Car People want to know about upcoming models. Someone's going to pay something for the spy shots. 3. The Internet. You can't keep secrets anymore. Heck, ask Apple. At least you're not going to get people leaving 2014 Corvettes at a bar. You just can't control information prior to release like you used to. Imagine a dealership papering up its windows these days. All well and good, unless one of your employees has a camera phone. I mean, if it weren't for the fact that every car dealership employee has the highest of moral scruples and is fully pleased with, satisfied by and obedient to the company they work for. So car companies can either ignore the fact that all this information is going to leak out and ruin their reveal anyway, or they can try to guide and tweak it by handing out teasers here, exclusives there, maybe some NDAs for the big boys, but not so strict they end up getting scooped by the little guys with no NDA.
Your 1. (Edit: meant to be a response to Jellodyne's post) was my first thought too. A smartphone is much easier to conceal in public than a car is (mistakes like the bar incident notwithstanding). Even though both products need to be tested "in the wild" extensively before release, its a fundamentally different problem. A prototype phone in a case looks like any other phone in a case but when they put stuff on a new car and call it camouflage, they make it a rolling oxymoron. But that doesn't mean OEMs can't pull back on all the "teaser" shots...