4 ms·
Yeah, it's a terrible puzzle. That must be an awkward situation, opening a present like that, knowing someone spent a couple hundred dollars on something so sil
by joshuaxls 17y ago
Yeah, it's a terrible puzzle. That must be an awkward situation, opening a present like that, knowing someone spent a couple hundred dollars on something so silly and then having to thank them.
However, the whole part of this post about extortion is kind of silly. How many of these have been sold? A thousand or so? Yeah, that must be a very valuable database of information they're keeping. Any company looking to target a rich demographic could advertise at a country club. Why cook up a hairbrained scheme surrounding a puzzle?
I doubt their business model is based on selling personal information. If I had to guess, I'd say it's based on huge profit margins from selling a silly aluminum sphere.
- pvg 17y agoMost likely it's based on the profit margins from selling you a series of silly puzzles and keeping you engaged in the 'Isis adventure' so they can sell you even more stuff. This explains the prizes, the availability of a second puzzle solution prize for which can only be collected if you have the first puzzle, etc. There will probably be N of these, should the first couple be successful. And for that business model, contact info is essential. The whole thing is closer to a sort of subscription game in which the lame puzzle is just a prop.
- lisper 17y agoI just got an email from the president of the company saying they have 30,000 registered users.
- jdrock 17y agoSorry, but 30,000 is a very low number.
- lisper 17y agoThat may be true, but it's more than "a thousand or so".
- jbyers 17y ago30,000 people who spent $200 on a toy puzzle is by no means a small number. Luxury goods purchases follow a power law, and the value of capturing a portion of the fat side of that curve is huge. If they're willing to spend $200 on a puzzle, imagine what they'd spend on something they perceive they need.
- GrandMasterBirt 17y agoDead on. Its $200 on a puzzle, which simultaneously shows that the person cares about this $200 more than their personal information, which is damn useful for marketing.
- jdrock 17y agoIt's a low number in terms of # of profile listing for a telemarketer. Telemarketers buy on the order of hundreds of thousands or millions.
- blhack 17y agohundreds of thousands or millions. Are they telemarketing to a planet that I don't know about? Wouldn't that be hundreds of billions? Are they buying lots of duplicates or something like that, then combining all the info themselves?