3 ms·

I think to OPs point, is not that articles in general aren't warranted. It's just that this one was useless. It doesn't tell me what instant pot did to make it

I think to OPs point, is not that articles in general aren't warranted. It's just that this one was useless. It doesn't tell me what instant pot did to make it beat out rivals other than some nonsense about sensors. And sending units to reviewers is paid advertising. I'd like to hear more about that. Was that his plan from the beginning? Make the same device everyone else does at the same price but get blog reviews?

ghaff 9y ago
The article does get into the viral marketing etc. but, like you, I would like to hear more. I'm honestly not sure why the Instant Pot took off when (admittedly mostly much more expensive) electric pressure cookers have been around for ages. Though, reading the article, it's also not clear to me if the founder really knows why it became so successful either.
- mattmaroon 9y ago
  Yeah, I'd love to know if it was intentional.
  - jasonlotito 9y ago
    FTA: > In 2010, after several months of sluggish sales in and around Ontario, Mr. Wang listed the Instant Pot on Amazon, where a community of food writers eventually took notice. Vegetarians and paleo dieters, in particular, were drawn to the device’s pressure-cooking function, which shaved hours off the time needed to cook pots of beans or large cuts of meat. > Sensing viral potential, Instant Pot sent test units to about 200 influential chefs, cooking instructors and food bloggers. Reviews and recipes appeared online, and sales began to climb. I really don't know what you are talking about. It spells out exactly what they did, and why they did it. It also talks about taking advantage of "Fulfilled by Amazon" back in 2010, still early in the program, and credits Amazon with over 90% of it's sales at one point.
    - ghaff 9y ago
      Yes, but it seems as if it was starting to gather a fair bit of attention on Amazon before they sent out the test units. I suspect that the initial answer was some combination of Amazon + good product + smart positioning + good luck. Overall, it's an interesting story about a product that succeeded largely through viral marketing but I'd have liked more detail than you're likely to get from a general interest article.
      - soundwave106 9y ago
        There's not that much more detail, but a University of Waterloo article on them (https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-social-media-ladder-to-success/ https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-soc...) describes the name of the tactic described above: influencer marketing. It's interesting that they align the fact that cooking is often a social phenomenon, with the fact that influencer marketing seemed to work well for Instant Pot. I gather from some of the articles linked (http://refineandfocus.com/when-brand-communities-become-cults-lessons-from-instant-pots-social-media-success/ http://refineandfocus.com/when-brand-communities-become-cult... and https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/from-ottawa-to-world-domination-the-story-of-the-instant-pot-1.3319793 https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/from-ottawa-to-world-domina...) that unlike other past influencer marketed products, Instant Pot largely utilized Internet space: big platform social media word-of-mouth to achieve their affects. Given that Internet social media space is growing, I would expect more of these type of marketing stories in the future. Some of it's probably the product for sure. If I remember right, rice cookers like the Zojirushi models had pretty much everything Instant Pot has, except the pressure cooking part. But that's a pretty big "except", given the dodgy past of traditional stove-top pressure cookers.
        ghaff 9y ago
        Modern stovetop pressure cookers are pretty safe these days but some people certainly worry and, as others have said, they can be a bit fiddly. You certainly don't fire them up and leave the house. Influencer marketing is a big deal in many product categories these days. The details vary by B2B or B2C, product/service area, etc. But reviews by people who may not be full-time writers and reviewers can be very important, especially for product categories that don't have a lot of trusted expert review sources. With money and goods often changing hands there can be a whiff of payola about the whole process. But most people who have a trusted following really are giving honest opinions. You may be able to get me to write a review if you send me something I'm interested and qualified to have an opinion on. I'm not going to be positive just because because I got some freebie though.

ghaff 9y ago

The article does get into the viral marketing etc. but, like you, I would like to hear more. I'm honestly not sure why the Instant Pot took off when (admittedly mostly much more expensive) electric pressure cookers have been around for ages. Though, reading the article, it's also not clear to me if the founder really knows why it became so successful either.

mattmaroon 9y ago
Yeah, I'd love to know if it was intentional.
- jasonlotito 9y ago
  FTA: > In 2010, after several months of sluggish sales in and around Ontario, Mr. Wang listed the Instant Pot on Amazon, where a community of food writers eventually took notice. Vegetarians and paleo dieters, in particular, were drawn to the device’s pressure-cooking function, which shaved hours off the time needed to cook pots of beans or large cuts of meat. > Sensing viral potential, Instant Pot sent test units to about 200 influential chefs, cooking instructors and food bloggers. Reviews and recipes appeared online, and sales began to climb. I really don't know what you are talking about. It spells out exactly what they did, and why they did it. It also talks about taking advantage of "Fulfilled by Amazon" back in 2010, still early in the program, and credits Amazon with over 90% of it's sales at one point.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    Yes, but it seems as if it was starting to gather a fair bit of attention on Amazon before they sent out the test units. I suspect that the initial answer was some combination of Amazon + good product + smart positioning + good luck. Overall, it's an interesting story about a product that succeeded largely through viral marketing but I'd have liked more detail than you're likely to get from a general interest article.
    - soundwave106 9y ago
      There's not that much more detail, but a University of Waterloo article on them (https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-social-media-ladder-to-success/ https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-soc...) describes the name of the tactic described above: influencer marketing. It's interesting that they align the fact that cooking is often a social phenomenon, with the fact that influencer marketing seemed to work well for Instant Pot. I gather from some of the articles linked (http://refineandfocus.com/when-brand-communities-become-cults-lessons-from-instant-pots-social-media-success/ http://refineandfocus.com/when-brand-communities-become-cult... and https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/from-ottawa-to-world-domination-the-story-of-the-instant-pot-1.3319793 https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/from-ottawa-to-world-domina...) that unlike other past influencer marketed products, Instant Pot largely utilized Internet space: big platform social media word-of-mouth to achieve their affects. Given that Internet social media space is growing, I would expect more of these type of marketing stories in the future. Some of it's probably the product for sure. If I remember right, rice cookers like the Zojirushi models had pretty much everything Instant Pot has, except the pressure cooking part. But that's a pretty big "except", given the dodgy past of traditional stove-top pressure cookers.
      - ghaff 9y ago
        Modern stovetop pressure cookers are pretty safe these days but some people certainly worry and, as others have said, they can be a bit fiddly. You certainly don't fire them up and leave the house. Influencer marketing is a big deal in many product categories these days. The details vary by B2B or B2C, product/service area, etc. But reviews by people who may not be full-time writers and reviewers can be very important, especially for product categories that don't have a lot of trusted expert review sources. With money and goods often changing hands there can be a whiff of payola about the whole process. But most people who have a trusted following really are giving honest opinions. You may be able to get me to write a review if you send me something I'm interested and qualified to have an opinion on. I'm not going to be positive just because because I got some freebie though.