Posts Tagged: Max Strategy

1. My first question dealt with the idea that giving a product some kind of monetary value increases its consumer-worth. I used the example of The Boston Globe creating a new website and charging for content in hopes of generating profit and adding worth to their news. Perhaps this is a bit biased (as a loyal reader for several years who doesn’t want to pay to keep tabs on her home-city), but I don’t think this website will be a successful business model. While I understand the idea that giving a product monetary value increases the idea of its worth, when it comes to information on the Internet the simple fact is that people will seek our alternative sources to find what they are looking for. While I think the free sister-website (created for breaking news, crime and sports) will have regular visitors, I think that by charging for content The Boston Globe is going to lose readers and be unable to maintain a subscription service.

2. My second question investigated the idea of over saturation using the “max strategy.” In the book the author uses the example of the TV show The Sopranos and creating social media outlets, advertising placements and a website to drive marketing strategy and increase viewership – is this overkill? When thinking about this issue I kept coming back to the movie franchise Twilight. When the latest movie in the series came out I couldn’t turn on the TV or step out my front door without being bombarded with advertisements and news items about the release. By the time the movie was in theaters I was completely sick of hearing anything that related to the Cullen family or RPat and KStew’s budding off screen romance. I vowed to completely boycott the movie and anything related Twilight. A week after the movie came out, I caved and piled into the theater with all the other Twi-hards. Despite being completely and utterly annoyed with the movie’s overwhelming marketing strategies (it still gets under my skin), I still bought into the idea they were selling. I also imagine that for true fans, this kind of max strategy only helped hype-up the movie and increase anticipation for its release. So while brands and advertisers must carefully balance marketing strategies, using all the channels at our disposal is an effective way to reach a broad audience to communicate a message.

3.  My final question dealt with the idea of Gen-Y as a generation that doesn’t value anything, including online information. Many criticisms claim that since Millennials grew up in age of free, we then expect reality to mimic the online sphere and thus EVERYTHING should be free or at a reduced cost. However, Anderson comes to the defense of the digital native generation saying that we understand that free virtual access doesn’t lead to the expectation of free in reality. He writes. “Give the kids credit: They can differentiate between the physical and the virtual, and they tailor their behavior differently in each domain.” (pg 230) While I may not want to pay for access to content on The Boston Globe, I would still expect to shell out some cash for a print copy. Despite growing up digital, Gen-Y is still able to separate real versus online in regards to services, products and way of life.

1. In “Free,” the author discusses the idea of “no cost, no commitment.” He discusses how when products have a small monetary value attached, even as low as a dollar, people consume differently because they view the product as more valuable. To put this idea into real-life context, The Boston Globe recently decided to start charging online readers a subscription fee in order to gain access to all of the newspaper’s content. However, a sister-website will remain at no-cost with breaking news and sports. Anderson argues that by offering a free product, companies are trying to maximize the reach of the product/service, while charging a price could have counter effects. Based on these ideas, is The Boston Globe making a smart decision to charge readers to gain full-access? Is the sister-website really enough to entice users to continue to the visit the site? How will the idea of no cost, no commitment affect the third-party system in regards to advertisers?

2. The author talks about the “max strategy,” or saturating several outlets and channels with content in order to reach the largest audience possible. In many cases, society has seen this backfire with songs being over played and TV shows/movies being over-hyped. Is it really beneficial (in regards to promotion) to saturate every channel to reach the largest audience possible and risk over exposure?

3.  Towards the end of the book, Anderson discusses the top ten objections to the idea of “Free.” Number 1o states: Free is breeding a generation that doesn’t value anything. Growing up a digital natives, do we really tend to devalue the information online, or is this another stereotype that is part of criticism of Gen-Y?