I’m not sure what to think of this new Motorola print ad. Yes, here is a video of a print ad – because it’s an interactive print ad.
On one level, it is genius. Motorola has created an electronic, interactive ad that goes inside a magazine (Wired) and allows you to change the color of the phone right on the page. What a great way to tout the customizability of their Moto X smartphone. And they’re doing the whole “Internet pre-release” thing to increase the value of their very localized media buy.
On the other hand, isn’t there enough electronic stuff being thrown away every day in this country? Not to be a fuddy duddy, but Americans throw away more electronic junk than just about any other country on the planet, and unlike the cell phone it is trying to sell, there is nothing in any way reusable about the electronics in this ad.
Thinking of electronics as disposable just locks us into buying shorter-lived devices, so at the end of the day, this ad kind of turns me off from an environmental standpoint.
From a marketing standpoint, despite the undeniable cleverness of the execution, I’m not sold on the thrust of the strategy revolving around how you can customize the colors of the phone. Doesn’t everyone put their phone in a case, anyway?
Hey – maybe Motorola want to discourage the use of cases, thereby making their phones more vulnerable to breakage, thereby increasing sales? Hmmm…
~ Adam Schnitzler, CCO, The S3 Agency
