Red Paw marketing dilemma

[Phantom]

I am going to put this on a couple of boards to get maximum exposure to this matter. This is a two part post, so please read through it – it is the first time I’ve seen something like this on any message boards and it presents a bit of a dilemma.

As almost everyone knows REDPAW Systems http://redpawz.com/ has bought into the Champ Car World Series by sponsoring Rocketsports and Ryan Hunter Reay in Montreal and again in Las Vegas. Before the Canadian race Red Paw offered a promotion to Champ Car fans who clicked on their website. That offer has now expired.

They want to do it again. They are promoting the Personal BackupBoxTM and the Mobile BackupBoxTM units. They will only be sold at the original $399 price, starting immediately – these are the largest disk capacity units (Mobile is currently 80GB, Personal is 250GB).

The marketing folks at Red Paw insisted that they have a short-term promotion for the fans so they can continue to get some grassroots business from the Champ Car World Series exposure (in addition to their overall marketing and branding efforts). If it works, they will continue to push for this promotion during each race, but that is ultimately a corporate decision that will depend on perception and the amount of enthusiasm it generates. The promo is a flat $150 discount to thank the fans. It is not listed on the website and is only available by entering the code MADMAX. The offer will expire shortly – so if anyone is interested – act fast – back up your valuable data and support a Champ Car sponsor.

Now – here is part II of the post. I posted this because I bought one of their systems – for all the reasons stated above. The powers-that-be at Red Paw are in a bit of a quandary. They want to market to Champ Car fans. But they are not sure if posting on message boards is the right way to go about things. Personally, I would not want to see another member posting something out here trying to sell it to me. But what do you all think about sponsors?

What if Red Paw or DHL or McDonalds or WellBox or anyone else posted things here – special offers and promotion just for Champ Car fans? We know they are trying to sell us stuff – that’s why they pay to have their names plastered on the sides of the car.

If they post here to solicit more business to a target audience – is it invasive advertising or a special deal for the chosen few – Champ Car fans? Let the debate begin…

[nrc]

In our case the rules are spelled out in our FAQ (http://www.offcamber.net/forums/faq.php?faq=ocrules_faq_item#faq_ocposting_faq_ite m).

5. You may not post advertisements for product or service, unless approved by the moderator. Racing items such as tickets, die casts, etc., are exempted from this rule.
Of course there's a difference between a pure advertisement and forum members discussing a product or company, but sometimes that line can get fuzzy.

We appreciate anyone who is supporting Champ car so we're not likely to object to a discussion of a Champ car sponsor or their product unless it becomes an annoyance to our community. Some forums might have a different perspective. Forums that sell banner ads can be very sensitive to commercial posts.

As with any sponsorship, Champ car sponsorship can only gain attention and generate an interest. It takes more than just sponsorship close a sale.

When I heard about the BackupBox sponsorship it caught my interest and I Googled it to find their page. I was intrigued by the product but, honestly, I wasn't able to get nearly enough information on it to make a judgement on it. When I'm considering a significant purchase like this I want to see detailed product information and reviews and I just didn't see them. I want to see spec sheets, reviews and ideally a user manual online. What OS does it work on? What does the software look like? How is it better than backup solutions that come with many external USB drives?

Ulitmately I think that if you're looking for broad exposure, Champ car may not be the right medium. If you're looking to exposure to technically savy users as a basis for building awareness through word-of-mouth, it might be. If you're looking for a mechanism for reaching out to and networking with potential distributors and corporate customers it's excellant, but it takes on-site hospitality at the races to support that.

Either way, you've to to have your pitch together. You've got to be able give them an idea of why BackUp box is the right solution in the time you've got them them in the suite.

[rabbit]

What if Red Paw or DHL or McDonalds or WellBox or anyone else posted things here – special offers and promotion just for Champ Car fans?
Personally, I don't want ads on here. That's my two copper discs.