3 ms·

Sorry but you're vastly underestimating the power of marketing. "Yo" was basically an entirely marketing play, same with Flappy Bird, and their are several more

by cix 12y ago

Sorry but you're vastly underestimating the power of marketing. "Yo" was basically an entirely marketing play, same with Flappy Bird, and their are several more examples. Candy Crush is by no means innovative, they polished an existing flash game that had been around for ages and marketed it correctly. Examples through counter examples; Bing will never succeed, simply because the brand has been devalued to a point that such migration is impossible. Amazon cannot make it in hardware no matter their innovation, because of how deeply invested people are with Apple/Google. I am sorry to say that in some respects; it is you with the blindspot.

cix 12y ago
That being said their are also examples of what you say working, but I have spoke to many people who have worked on AAA titles on mobile which have spent millions on R&D, with the best possible designers and developers, only to have a game like flappy bird outdo them. This is not only about being innovative, in fact it's sometime not, but rather having a anti-attitude to what the current market is in order to differentiate. Making an app for kids? Ask kids what they want, having a holier than though approach is only going to kick yourself in the face.
m3mnoch 12y ago
so, you're going to tell us that "yo" isn't the very definition of hitting the app lottery? edit: and i believe you're conflating "marketing" with "coverage for hitting the lottery".
- cix 12y ago
  Read the story of how it came to be, it was marketing. Keep in mind also the name itself is a huge reason for this.
  - m3mnoch 12y ago
    again, you're conflating "marketing" with "coverage for hitting the lottery". from this article: http://www.haaretz.com/business/start-up-of-the-week/1.599913 http://www.haaretz.com/business/start-up-of-the-week/1.59991... They decided to release the app to the App Store, and people slowly started hearing about it. The first serious buzz happened when blogger ad technical Robert Scoble wrote about Yo after a visit to Israel. He called it “the stupidest” but “most addicting” app. Thus the Yo app became the conversation of the day among the startup crowd in Silicon Valley and New York, who tweeted how excited they were at using it. As interest burgeoned, Arbel moved to San Francisco last week.
    - cix 12y ago
      You proved my point " The first serious buzz happened when blogger ad technical Robert Scoble wrote about Yo after a visit to Israel. He called it “the stupidest” but “most addicting” app." Until then no-one knew about it, what is that called marketing. Are you going to down-vote me because you're wrong? How about Flappybird? That didn't gain any traction until the #1 Youtube video maker PewDiePie made a video on how much he hated it.
      - walterbell 12y ago
        On the topic of online buzz, see Ryan Holiday's book, "Trust Me, I'm Lying", https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ryan-holiday/trust-me-lying/ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ryan-holiday/trus...
        cix 12y ago
        Marketing and propaganda are very similar, if people believe something to be true. It is. A lot of these famous social accounts aren't even the people in the photos. It's kinda disturbing once you get deep, everything seems so fake.
        walterbell 12y ago
        Doug Rushkoff & PBS had an episode about this topic, "Generation Like" http://www.dailydot.com/geek/inside-fandom-media-campaign/ http://www.dailydot.com/geek/inside-fandom-media-campaign/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/
      - simonh 12y ago
        Marketing is a deliberate attempt to promote a product with the intention of selling it. If the authors or publishers of Yo approached Scoble or the Youtuber and persuaded them to feature their product, that's marketing. If Scoble or the Youtuber came across these apps on their own and randomly decided to mention them then that's not marketing, it's just luck.
- cix 12y ago
  Their is also a lot of evidence to show Flappy Bird's position in the top apps placement was because of gray hat marketing.

by cix 12y ago

cix 12y ago

That being said their are also examples of what you say working, but I have spoke to many people who have worked on AAA titles on mobile which have spent millions on R&D, with the best possible designers and developers, only to have a game like flappy bird outdo them. This is not only about being innovative, in fact it's sometime not, but rather having a anti-attitude to what the current market is in order to differentiate. Making an app for kids? Ask kids what they want, having a holier than though approach is only going to kick yourself in the face.

m3mnoch 12y ago

so, you're going to tell us that "yo" isn't the very definition of hitting the app lottery? edit: and i believe you're conflating "marketing" with "coverage for hitting the lottery".

cix 12y ago
Read the story of how it came to be, it was marketing. Keep in mind also the name itself is a huge reason for this.
- m3mnoch 12y ago
  again, you're conflating "marketing" with "coverage for hitting the lottery". from this article: http://www.haaretz.com/business/start-up-of-the-week/1.599913 http://www.haaretz.com/business/start-up-of-the-week/1.59991... They decided to release the app to the App Store, and people slowly started hearing about it. The first serious buzz happened when blogger ad technical Robert Scoble wrote about Yo after a visit to Israel. He called it “the stupidest” but “most addicting” app. Thus the Yo app became the conversation of the day among the startup crowd in Silicon Valley and New York, who tweeted how excited they were at using it. As interest burgeoned, Arbel moved to San Francisco last week.
  - cix 12y ago
    You proved my point " The first serious buzz happened when blogger ad technical Robert Scoble wrote about Yo after a visit to Israel. He called it “the stupidest” but “most addicting” app." Until then no-one knew about it, what is that called marketing. Are you going to down-vote me because you're wrong? How about Flappybird? That didn't gain any traction until the #1 Youtube video maker PewDiePie made a video on how much he hated it.
    - walterbell 12y ago
      On the topic of online buzz, see Ryan Holiday's book, "Trust Me, I'm Lying", https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ryan-holiday/trust-me-lying/ https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ryan-holiday/trus...
      - cix 12y ago
        Marketing and propaganda are very similar, if people believe something to be true. It is. A lot of these famous social accounts aren't even the people in the photos. It's kinda disturbing once you get deep, everything seems so fake.
        walterbell 12y ago
        Doug Rushkoff & PBS had an episode about this topic, "Generation Like" http://www.dailydot.com/geek/inside-fandom-media-campaign/ http://www.dailydot.com/geek/inside-fandom-media-campaign/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/generation-like/
    - simonh 12y ago
      Marketing is a deliberate attempt to promote a product with the intention of selling it. If the authors or publishers of Yo approached Scoble or the Youtuber and persuaded them to feature their product, that's marketing. If Scoble or the Youtuber came across these apps on their own and randomly decided to mention them then that's not marketing, it's just luck.
cix 12y ago
Their is also a lot of evidence to show Flappy Bird's position in the top apps placement was because of gray hat marketing.