TYCO touching adult goodies

[P3D Larry Berlin <lberlin@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Jamie Drouin Writes:
> I can tell you right now that TYCO is not going to even 'toy' with the
>idea of making nudie VM reels.  I know that this is one of the ten
>commandments of their whole operation.
.....
>it is probably one of the most unpopular childrens
>toys at the moment (due mainly to poor distribution, marketing movie
>tie-ins AFTER the movie has left the theatres, etc...).  Perhaps a letter
>writing campaign is in order?

Hi All,

After reading a number of comments on VM Reels it seems that trying to get
Tyco to wake up to this *toy's* potential is barking up the wrong tree. I
agree they should look into making reels with more non-toy oriented topics
but several things stand in the way of selling them. 1. fixed Inter-ocular
distance 2. lack of intelligent marketing 3. lack of interest in intelligent
marketing 4. lack of a device with a non-toy appearance, to name a few...

The story Jamie tells of his experience with them illustrates the point.
(Thanks Jamie!!!) He lives close (relatively) to the Oregon plant yet had to
relay everything through the distant Canadian office even though all the
Canadian office had to do was some paper work. It would have been more
intelligent to arrange to work directly with the Oregon plant and only send
the paperwork to the main office. If they can't figure out something that
basic and simple, how can they figure out where the market really is for
their special toy that's not even their toy?

This is a case where either they put a little something into their efforts
or lose the market to 3Discover or other competing product. Sure, send them
your ideas and maybe something will click, but so far it sounds pretty
dismal. A new product has the opportunity of looking different, improving on
problems with the VM system, and gaining exposure as a non-toy product from
the start, potentially being open to marketing in a variety of markets. 

The adult-adult market is probably a strong one but 3D hasn't made much
impact there for some reason. A number of years ago in S. California, I
found some adult film strips in 3D that were viewed by sliding through a
simple viewing device made of plastic that was essentially two loupes
attached together. Not all the photography was great and the reproduction of
the strips was poor, but the system did work and provided a stereo view of
full frame 35mm. It didn't stay available for a real long time, so must not
have sold very well.

A long time later, I saw the viewing device itself in a catalog but now
don't remember where. It seemed like a good and inexpensive way to view 3D
but would have been better with some way to enclose the filmstrip. It only
had a slot to slide the strip through so the coil of excess film often got
in the way. The 3Discover sounds like a product with a bigger potential. The
real key is to get a wide variety of material available and have the product
get lots of good exposure. Perhaps the photgraphers in this group should be
thinking about putting out their own material in this format. (some kind of
cartridge?)

I think someone said in an earlier post that Wrebbit wasn't interested in
additional material because of having their own, but that could be a real
shortsighted approach to the market. What they need is far greater input of
quality images and a very wide distribution. This could only be enhanced
with locally featured artists in many different places. It would be
conceivable to shoot scenics or museum pieces or anything else and more
readily get the results into the commercial package (of the 3Discover) than
trying to work with someone like Tyco.

The best approach for VM would be for someone to buy the product rights from
Tyco and transform it as a product from a forward thinking source with
better marketing efforts. Despite their problems marketing this product, it
doesn't sound like they would be too willing to sell it. VM has the
potential advantage of being a well known classic but if that quality isn't
used, it doesn't have a chance to work.

Speaking of modern markets, perhaps there is not much of a market for still
images today? With full color and motion in 3D looming on the horizon and
likely to be in many homes soon, promoting still images just doesn't have
much marketing appeal to those who are out to spend their money on something
memorable??? The market potential seems stronger for action material than
stills.

Larry Berlin

Email: lberlin@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.sonic.net/~lberlin/


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