Lottery Creates Instant Demand
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Puppet
Mannequin American views and guidelines on marketing/PR trends, news from the world of puppets and ventriloquism, bits of humor and other interesting but useless information. I post every Tuesday and Friday.
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You Have to Win a Lottery to Purchase This Car
Tata Motors is going to auction its first 100,000 Nano automobiles in India to customers chosen by lottery at a retail price that starts at about $2,000.
The thing looks like a Pinewood Derby body stuck on a lawnmower. And it seems sized to fit four Mannequin American-sized bodies. But never mind all that ... it's cheap, it gets 55 miles to the gallon, it can travel about that far in an hour and it could change the automotive retailing landscape worldwide.
A small car made out of what might be no more than aluminum foil, mass-produced and sold for the cost of a really nice desktop computer, means that lots of people could buy it. So don't think about it as a second or third car...but rather just another car that could prove useful. Suddenly, the debate isn't about replacement, but simply an alternative to driving one of those larger, gas-guzzling SUVs in the 5-car garage.
It's very possible that the way to move the conversation about conservation significantly forward is to stop trying to have our proverbial cake, and eating it too. The Nano could get into enough hands to be a default choice when travel doesn't require great speed, style, or comfort.
Plus the lottery idea will create instant demand. Brilliant marketing!
On the other hand small cars do have their disadvantages.
Here's a 2009 Toyota Yaris after the Insurance Institute's 40-mph frontal offset crash. Ouch! Hey! I think that's my cousin behind the wheel!
This May be More Your Style
Talk about a car Batman would drive!! Spain's just released Tramontana R-edition. It may not look like a real vehicle, but it is.
Not only does it have the design and aesthetics of a vehicle not of this earth (lots of carbon fiber), but it combines aeronautical technology with a Formula 1 Race car. It features 720 Hp and goes from 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds! In a limited edition of 12 and costing a cool half million dollars, you may want to rush right out and get one. More info and photos here.
From Cars to Lighted Unlighted Roads
From JS Online, and our buddy Gene Mueller at WTMJ: Accent lights don't just beautify homes. Apparently they make freeways more pleasant, as well. That's the thinking behind the LED lights recently turned on in the Marquette Interchange. The accents glow on six large concrete supports and the wall in the "canyon ramp," which connects eastbound I-94 to northbound I-43 here in Milwaukee.
The decorative lighting cost about $815,000. Computer operated, the 65 lights cast a changing palette of colors from sunset to sunrise. (That's $12,538 for each light!)
At the same time, nearly four out of every 10 streetlights along I-794 and the Lake Parkway are burned out, leaving motorists to drive without the guidance of that familiar orange glow spilling down from above as they cruise the expressway late at night.
The patches of darkness aren't unique to I-794 and the parkway. Years of shrunken state budgets have left little cash for replacing the tall lights that line highways and interstates, the JS Public Investigator Team found.
Some of the most traveled stretches of road in Milwaukee County are dark. Consider:
- 23% of lights are burned out along I-94 between I-794 and state Highway 100.
- 21% of lights along U.S. Highway 45 from I-94 to Good Hope Road are dark.
- 19% of lights on I-43 throughout the county are out.
Public Investigator tallied the outages - about 550 lights - using maps and figures collected by the state in its weekly "lamp patrol." That's when a worker counts the number of burned-out lights along the highway as a way to prioritize maintenance.
Maybe they should spend less time "counting" and more time "fixing." Just a thought.
Not a Real Ad ... But Real Funny
This BMW ad says, "Why burn your fuel when you can burn someone else's?"
"New Magnetic Tow Technology allows you to turn off your engine and let the vehicle in front pull you along without losing any maneuverability." The mock ad suggests that when you turn off MTT, you give a courteous flick of your lights to thank the other driver.
There's a Reason to Vote for This Blog
As of yesterday this bog ranked 2nd in the Blogger's Choice '09 Awards voting in the Marketing category ... only 6 votes behind the leader. I know that the majority of my readers subscribe to this blog from work and may have difficulty voting from their employers' computers. But I need your votes! So just forward this to your home email and vote from there. Please ...
Click here and you will go to the Blogger's Choice '09 Awards Web page. When you're on the site, click on "Best Marketing Blog" on the left-hand menu. Then scroll to my blog which is listed under bmpr.com/chip_martin
Blogs are ranked by the number of votes they have. I'm on the 1st page today. When you find bmpr.com/chip_martin click on "vote." You'll have to register ... I know it takes a minute, but that's how the scoring remains legitimate. So please take the minute to register and then vote. I know this is a hassle. So please read the next paragraph.
After you vote for me, email me at chip.martin@bmpr.com and as long as our supply lasts, I will send you a free highlighter from Brown & Martin, Inc. Just think how cool it would be to have a "puppet" defeat those know-it-all marketers at their own game!
