"Leveraging Current Events for Product Design and Marketing" by Bill Solominsky
Presentation for ProductCamp Austin summer 2009.
Notes to slides can be found at http://www.solominsky.com/productcamp-austin-summer-2009/
Examples include:One-time: Cash for ClunkersWedding Dance – Divorce DanceInaugurationMoon/Mars missionBerlin WallAtkins dietRecurring:Sports events, music festivalsTragic:Natural Disasters
make sure your product life cycle is congruent with the expected length of the media coverage of the current eventGovernment or 3rd party approvals could significantly delay product launch
No time for traditional market research. Instead, use interviews from news, twitter trending topics, etc. to find the thoughts and feelings of customers.
Agile development techniques work well. Quick, open, short development.
Aggressive and dynamic. Change price if needed (up or down), and use as many revenue sources as you can. Remember that if you target in general is the United States, and if you have already reached 1,000,000 visitors, there are still over 300,000,000 people that don’t know your product.
Media and press have already done your branding campaign for you by making people aware in short term to long term memory.
Even if you media is calling you, still "sell" your story to ensure coverage.
Many current events cause groups to spring up. Contact these groups from both the top and bottom to get your message viral.
Tread cautiously with tragic events, keeping in mind the sensitivity of the victims. Offer your product if it will help. Do not boast about the good that you did.Sustainable business- white label.