If you’ve been watching any primetime TV recently (or walked through Times Square) you may have noticed ads for something called “Droid”. Here’s its main TV spot:
At first you’re thinking - oh, white screen, poppy jingle, must be another iPhone ad! - but then you start paying attention and realize it’s an ad taking direct shots at Apple and you’re left with an ominous mention of the Droid. The Droid, is an upcoming Android OS phone by Motorola, which launches on Verizon next week. As the anti-iPhone commercial tells you, the Droid packs a big pixel-packed touch screen, full keyboard, 5mp camera with flash, multi-tasking abilities, and more - many things the iPhone doesn’t offer.
Verizon’s dropped the hammer on marketing the Droid. They’ve gone all out to push the message of a superior device to the masses. And you know what? It’s worked. It’s worked really, really well.
From people opting into the Droid’s mailing list, to the bigshot blogs covering the pre-launch hype, the Droid’s marketing is a total success.
Hell, Gizmodo published a post today called “How Motorola Stopped Sucking“. Seriously? It was that easy? One phone and their back? And wait, after all that “iDon’t” jargon, it turns out the Droid is actually pretty comparably built to the iPhone. So it basically comes down to: do you want a keyboard? Apple OS or Android? There’s no “better” for either of those questions. But the Droid’s taken a stab at the iPhone claiming superiority.
Where does Droid get off taken a direct approach at a competitor like that!?
Oh, right…
Here’s my take on all this: is the Droid an iPhone killer? No. Is there going to be an iPhone killer? No. The iPhone is going to continue leading the way for at least another generation to come. But, as I’ve said many times before, there is plenty of room for iPhone-killer marketing. I think the Droid’s launch is a perfect example of what the competition should be doing with each launch. Step up the game and force Apple to keep innovating to remain on top.
In the end the Droid looks like a great device and Android 2.0 is probably pretty sweet too. But does it matter for this hype? No, not really. Thanks to the abundance of marketing, there are enough consumers excited about the Droid without ever touching or seeing one that Verizon’s bound to sell out next week. And in the end, when have consumers been excited about a Verizon phone? I say good job all around.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
This is really interesting. I think you are right about the iPhone killer being a long way off, but Android did a great job with this marketing campaign. Good post!
October 30th, 2009 at 9:33 am
I think what’s really impressed me about the Droid campaign, is that non-techy people are talking about it.
Android has primarily been a geek-centric OS, but thanks to the Droid’s heavy handed marketing - the masses are excited about it. It’s exactly what Android (and Motorola, Verizon, etc) needed.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:32 am
@Zach - I completely agree about the ‘non-techy’ people comment. I’ve heard people talking about it (even though they are confused as to what it is) a lot. Good for Verizon and Motorola. I still think Motorola sucks though.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Yeah, I tried to keep Motorola sentiment out of this post - as tricky as that was. Moto has had a really, really tough time recently and hasn’t had much of a hit since the Razr. Moto’s finances are troubled, future product lines limited, then out of the blue comes the Droid.
Really, it’s an impressive turn around. Having said that - until I have a droid in my hands to play with, I can’t say anything about the build quality. Past Motorola devices have always felt a bit cheap, especially the smartphones (Q, I’m talking about you!) - so I’ll need to check this out before making a decisive call on Moto’s outlook.