Marketing the Minimal
(Rudy Rucker is a guestblogger. His latest novel, Hylozoic, describes a postsingular world in which everything is alive.)
We're talking about the Yo Baby, which is a skateboard with no wheels!
The presence of the turtle in the Yo Baby ad reminds me of Douglas Coupland's novel, JPod, which is about, among other things, the use of turtles in marketing, and which also has an intricate web page.
the latest
latest episodes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx1tF1ziisU
How do you market a toy that does almost nothing? I'd say most toys fall into the "does almost nothing" category! But how do you market it? I'd say the same way you market most things. It's rare to see a commercial for *any* product that focuses exclusively on the actual functionality of the product.
It'll never outsell Log.
@#2
That's because Log isn't a toy--it's a friend.
Most toys do not "do almost nothing". My son's construction vehicle toys act much like their real-world counterparts. Toy cars can be pushed to simulate real car action. Superman can made to act in super ways. And so on.
This Yo Baby thing? I made one. When I was 6 y/o. (No bent nose or tail, though. Hey, I was 6.)
This is crap. I hope it's expensive, so that the idiots who buy it will be out so much cash.
By the way, "YoBaby" is also yogurt.
http://www.yobabyyogurt.com/
I have to presume that no one who would call this toy "crap" has ever ridden a skateboard. There's a big difference when you add wheels to the picture, but mastering the movement and technique of an ollie or any given flip trick can be very tough. I can see the value in the toy, in the same way there's value in training wheels when learning to ride a bicycle.
Anything I ever really need in this world I have my son build for me from his Lego.
My Lego is just for playing with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H03PyhbRjSY
This would be very fun if you had carpet at your house. It would be fun on the sand, too. But if you do it in the house, watch out for coffee table corners. (Learned that hard lesson when I was five.)
But is it alive?
That's not a skateboard, that's a snowboard on asphalt.
It's kind of off topic, but takuan's link to the Ren and Stimpy log song reminded me: why did Eudora (at least with version 3) use the opening xylophone from that for it's new mail sound? there must be a story there! A very quick googling didn't turn up much, except for one or two other forum posts mentioning the relation...
If you had carpet in your house, it would be sweet to ride down the stairs on one of these things!!
Exactly the sort of thing I'd want as a kid and have my father tell me, "Waste of money. When we get home I'll make you one out of cardboard."
"I have to presume that no one who would call this toy "crap" has ever ridden a skateboard. There's a big difference when you add wheels to the picture, but mastering the movement and technique of an ollie or any given flip trick can be very tough. I can see the value in the toy, in the same way there's value in training wheels when learning to ride a bicycle."
This toy is as useful as a bicycle with no wheels. A skateboard with no wheels is no help in learning to ride a skateboard.
In five years we will all be amazed at what some kids can do with one of these. The marketing is pretty dull though.
Wrong on this one. I own a toy story in N.California and we sell out of these constantly. As far as I know the kids haven't seen them on some web site, they just know what they want to do with them. Nice that some things are still a mystery to adults.
The real money is going to be in the high-zoot custom wooden ones...
@#4 pflint: Most toys do not "do almost nothing". My son's construction vehicle toys act much like their real-world counterparts. Toy cars can be pushed to simulate real car action. Superman can made to act in super ways. And so on.
My toy Superman was just a Superman shaped doll. It didn't fly or walk or run or "act in super ways" or "do" anything by itself--I had to fling it around, tie it to a string, throw it at my sister, rubberband it to the cat, etc, if it was to "do" anything at all. Same with my toy cars and trucks. They were the right shapes and they had wheels so they could roll, but they did nothing at all by themselves.
I guess there are plenty of toys on the market for kids that basically play themselves; pop in the batteries and they'll act like real trucks or real Supermen. The train set I had as a kid was like this, and I got bored really quickly with it as I recall.
Seems to me that the toys that encourage the most imaginative play will be things like blocks or legos or dolls ... toys that do nothing at all, until the kids come and use their imagination.
This piece of plastic might be overpriced for what it is. But to complain that it "does almost nothing" seems to miss the point of what a "toy" is in the first place. If I'd had this as a kid, I'm sure it would be a skateboard, and a snowboard, but also a raft for army men, or the gate to a castle, or a super-leet ninja weapon, or a catapult (looking at the shape, it would make an awesome catapult. To each their own, though.
@ #11 Jon-o
I've heard the log song xylophone on email alerts where I work and just thought that someone in the office must have a great sense of humour! Strange that it's actually the default new mail noise.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZL6RGkPjws
No wheels? They should get rid of that plastic board, too.
Regarding the Log Xylo sound, while working at Viacom in the early 90's the IT group I was with actually pushed that sound file out and made it the default for everyone. And that was Windows 3.1, before the internet.
Is that the MC5 I hear in the first few seconds of the commercial?? Has John Sinclair been alerted?
But will it Blend?
Only a matter of time before they start marketing cardboard boxes.
Video demo of the Yo Baby:
http://www.toydirectory.com/monthly/video/video.asp?clip=23142
Phineas and Ferb already did this.
--Aaron B.
Do Not Taunt Yo Baby.
@#14
"This toy is as useful as a bicycle with no wheels. A skateboard with no wheels is no help in learning to ride a skateboard."
The idea isn't to learn how to ride a skateboard. The idea is to allow kids a safer and easier way to learn and perform skateboard tricks, that will then translate into skills on the real thing, should they choose to pursue it. Or to just screw around with it and have some fun that doesn't include a television or computer monitor.
Have a little imagination.
@ OrangeOrangutan ET AL- I used to skate in high school, 15 years ago, and wasn't all that good. I got good at ollies by practicing on carpet while watching tv. Not rolling all over the place and bleeding profusely is an excellent way to learn the basics.
Maybe I was a wuss, but at least it got me to where I could keep up with the other, better, skaters that I hung out with.
Brilliant! The toy is actually pretty cool but sampling Cypress Hill in the background of the commercial was brilliant. ;)
Toy seems to be a brilliant, hidden in plain sight idea.
But the website is as awful as it gets. The faux cool, obviously designed by 40+ yo's trying to be "hip to what youngster are diggin' these days" can be detected a county away by a teen.
-G.
But will it blend?
I asked my ten-year-old to watch the commericial. He said: "If it doesn't move anywhere, it's lame. Well... maybe if I had a long ramp of carpet, then it would be useful."