Time For The "Apple-Style" Product Launch?
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”.
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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...