14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm launched its latest smartphone, the Palm Pre, on the US market only two months ago, yet the fuzz around it has been quite high since the device was first unveiled at the CES show in January. Little was known about when the handset would actually arrive on the shelves until about a week before its launch, and neither Sprint nor Palm worked too hard on advertising it before release.
However, the Pre can be admired on the Web in a series of ads, which, according to a lot of voices around, rather creep people out than make them want to buy the phone. While any kind of publicity can be seen as good publicity, and considering that the fact that Pre makes the headlines is a good thing, end users might not feel that attracted to the device upon seeing the ads. As such, the legitimate question to come to one’s mind after seeing such an ad is whether this was the original intention.
Gary Koepke, co-founder and executive creative director at Modernista, seems to answer 'yes'. “We weren't trying to creep people out, but one thing I have learned now in this digital age is people can be as rude as they want as long as they don't have to look you in the face,” he says. “The Pre is probably being talked about more than other phones right now because of the marketing and advertising, and that's a good thing. Could the ads work harder to show exactly how the phone works? Yes, but we knew it would be polarizing people to have a woman not shout at them and tell an interesting story.”
Modernista seems to have been mainly focused on the “how-it-works” aspect of the Palm Pre, and didn't choose to go for more visual ads. Apparently, until now only a few people have been attracted towards the Pre, AdAge notes, though everything might pan out in the future. The sales of the handset have been reportedly stabilized in the 25k per week area, compared to the 50,000 during the first weeks of availability, yet they might rise again, as the next phase of Pre's marketing is about to kick off.
An exclusive sponsorship of “Bollywood Hero” (which should premiere on IFC on August 6) is on the list, along with a miniseries for Palm, called “A La Kattan” and created by Modernista and IFC, in which the actor uses the Pre in different scenarios. “Peter Mehlman's Narrow World of Sports” is a series of webisodes that will debut on August 9 on YouTube and other Google properties. The series will feature Mr. Mehlman who uses his Pre to interview athletes like Kobe Bryant, Tony Hawk and Tiger Woods.