Re: Why I haven't been around

From: ABlainey@aol.com
Date: Fri Mar 29 2002 - 11:35:44 MST


        I think you will get a good response from the survivalists and in
general hopefully likewise with the more rational folks out there.
Unfortunatley I would have to agree in part with Andy's view that the press
will play this with a decidedly "DoomSayer" slant. Although I think Andy's
view that "invocation indicates defeat", could be easily swung towards
"invocation indicates that even in the event of nuclear attack, We the people
will still fight and survive".

       Again I wish you luck. I think it is all in the marketing and you have
a serious PR challenge ahead.
       I think the questionaire should get you some fairly good data. You
will have to bear in mind that in general people who complete it will be for
the product.

       Alex

In a message dated 29/03/02 04:20:32 GMT Standard Time,
lubkin@unreasonable.com writes:

> Thank you. Looks like the public falls into three categories:
>
> 1 - Visceral yes. They are already committed to a prepared
> mindset. Obviously, subscribers to misc.survivalism would be good
> prospects. And I think extropianism by definition subsumes the more
> rational aspects of survivalism.
>
> 2 - Visceral no. Along with sending it to you guys, I also told a mailing
> list of software entrepreneurs I'm on. Most are liberal, anti-gun, fairly
> young. A few people got it, but the most common reaction was that my
> product was loathsome because it (they thought) preys on people's fears.
> And that anyone who would buy it is a paranoid loon who's on the lookout
> for black helicopters.
>
> 3 - Potentially persuadable. I hope that my calm, methodical style will be
> effective. I say that the product costs no more than a good smoke alarm
> because I want them to view it as a cheap, prudent precaution.
>
> I was surprised that the reaction from the other list was so
> empathic. Here's an interesting dilemma: I'm about to pitch this to news
> media as something they should cover. Ideally, in the news section now and
> then a review in the technology section when the product is actually
> shipping. From what I know of mainstream journalists, they have a lot in
> common with the chaps on that other list. So it seems like there's a fair
> chance that the people I need to write about it are predisposed to abhor
> the idea. *sigh*
>
> Perhaps the right answer is to go directly to misc.survivalism, and maybe
> gun or conservative groups, and see if I can establish a modest sales level
> and customer base and then look for mainstream press coverage.
>
> And perhaps the technical press (ComputerWorld, Handheld Computing, etc.)
> would treat it as straight product news.
>
> >Blimey ! was that a questionaire or was that a questionaire ?
>
> And thank you for being the first to fill it out. Were there any questions
> that you did not feel would be useful to me in making decisions about
> marketing and future product development? I wish I could get those
> nay-sayers to fill it out, too, so I have a clearer sense of the
> demographics of the Visceral Nos.
>
>
> -- David.
>
>



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