Capulous said:
I never said artificial shortages were never done. MS put $500 million into advertising Xbox/Kinect this holiday. It was put on various shows (Oprah especially) and it has been on the news in various places. It is getting plenty of exposure and hype. I guess we will see in the coming weeks if there was an artificial shortage for Kinect. |
I don't recall them ever saying that 500M$ was just marketing for the release of kinect. But it's possible. Regardless, seeing a product on tv doesn't equate to good advertising. Of course, advertising in itself is crucial, but it's also theorized that commercial advertising actually has an upper limit of effectiveness, as in, the effects of advertising level off at a certain amount of exposure (It is also theorized that it can be detrimental to have too much). I don't think it has had "too much" advertising, but I believe it is as recognizable as it can possibly be, and awareness is the main point of advertising.
Other forms of advertising have their strengths and hype and social desirability are strong ones. It's one of the reasons why viral marketing is seeing such a huge influx of demand.
To summarize, advertising is for awareness while hype is for purchase pressure. People have an inherent tendency to mistrust advertising. If there is a strong enough sensation of genuine customer demand, the effects of advertising are increased dramatically.
But yes, as you said, it does not prove that it is artificially manufactured demand. It is only a very strong possibility which will reveal itself later on. Keep in mind though that it may never be completely available. One of the main detractors to influence is the opinion that the demand was in fact artificial and manipulated. Customers in that case tend to rebel against the product. Nintendo, for example, kept underproducing products for long after the optimal selling period. Whether this is done as concealment, or simply to extend the hype over a length of time is known only by Nintendo. But there are extensive measures in place to prevent customer awareness of manipulation.