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When the Ipod launched, Apple sold "U2 Special Edition" ones that had the band's autographs etched to the back. Guess what Creative did for the launch of their

When the Ipod launched, Apple sold "U2 Special Edition" ones that had the band's autographs etched to the back. Guess what Creative did for the launch of their Zen mp3 players (supposed iPod killers)? 10 limited edition ones autographed by CEO Sim Wong Hoo. Like "Who cares about U2 and other artistes (admittedly there were few famous ones in SG then) right? We've got a special one signed by our CEO!" The person who thought of this should have been fired and condemned to never work in marketing ever again.

fodkodrasz 1y ago
Maybe this was an inspiration for the Gavin Belson Signature Box III in the series Silicon Valley?
aleph_minus_one 1y ago
> 10 limited edition ones autographed by CEO Sim Wong Hoo. Like "Who cares about U2 and other artistes (admittedly there were few famous ones in SG then) right? We've got a special one signed by our CEO!" The person who thought of this should have been fired and condemned to never work in marketing ever again. Honestly, having the decision between a "U2 Special Edition" and "CEO-signed Special Edition", I would without hesitation (all other things equal) choose the latter one. A great middle finger to all this musical band fandom, and the hypocrisy of lots of insanely commercially successful musicians who claim that they do this all for the love of music instead of love for money (just to be clear: there exist lots of indie bands for which I immediately do believe their love for music, but these bands are nearly always far too unknown to be suitable for being poster children for selling MP3 players). No need to mention that I love this kind of marketing. I guess I sometimes have a non-mainstream taste. :-)
- hypercube33 1y ago
  My late 90s Micron PC has a front panel easter egg - it is signed by what I assume to be the team that designed it, molded into the plastic. It's cool enough for me that Ive kept it.
rickdeckard 1y ago
Worth to note those Creative devices were not sold, they were given away as a prize in a contest. And it wasn't a total of 10 units, the winner received a collector's package with ALL TEN autographed Creative "Zen Micro" , one in each color available. 2nd~10th place won one "normal" Zen Micro respectively. Frankly, could be worse. Imagine being a teenager back then and winning 10 MP3 players...

fodkodrasz 1y ago

Maybe this was an inspiration for the Gavin Belson Signature Box III in the series Silicon Valley?

aleph_minus_one 1y ago

> 10 limited edition ones autographed by CEO Sim Wong Hoo. Like "Who cares about U2 and other artistes (admittedly there were few famous ones in SG then) right? We've got a special one signed by our CEO!" The person who thought of this should have been fired and condemned to never work in marketing ever again. Honestly, having the decision between a "U2 Special Edition" and "CEO-signed Special Edition", I would without hesitation (all other things equal) choose the latter one. A great middle finger to all this musical band fandom, and the hypocrisy of lots of insanely commercially successful musicians who claim that they do this all for the love of music instead of love for money (just to be clear: there exist lots of indie bands for which I immediately do believe their love for music, but these bands are nearly always far too unknown to be suitable for being poster children for selling MP3 players). No need to mention that I love this kind of marketing. I guess I sometimes have a non-mainstream taste. :-)

hypercube33 1y ago
My late 90s Micron PC has a front panel easter egg - it is signed by what I assume to be the team that designed it, molded into the plastic. It's cool enough for me that Ive kept it.

rickdeckard 1y ago

Worth to note those Creative devices were not sold, they were given away as a prize in a contest. And it wasn't a total of 10 units, the winner received a collector's package with ALL TEN autographed Creative "Zen Micro" , one in each color available. 2nd~10th place won one "normal" Zen Micro respectively. Frankly, could be worse. Imagine being a teenager back then and winning 10 MP3 players...