Question

Topic: Strategy

Free Giveaways Of A Calorieband

Posted by ncobb on 12/9/2010 at 1:12 PM ET 25 Points
We have developed a silicone wristband system that allows consumers to track their daily caloric intake. The product is only $4.99 and targeted towards clients that are tired of using paper and pen or not into the use of smart phone applications. As part of the product kick off campaign, I am considering providing 100 sets for free to local health programs in park districts, and other not for profit organizations.

My question to you is what do you think about this free offering to get product awareness and build traffic to the site www.calorieband.com?

These products are silicone, so they will last awhile.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 12/9/2010 at 7:25 PM Accepted
    A lot of professional trainers suggest, no require their clients to keep a food log. Now not all trainers track calories, but grams of fat, sugar, etc. But I think the trend is heading back to calories.

    I'd fusion market with those trainers. Forget the park programs and not for profits. Go where the biz is. So you give x# away-- what is their incentive to actually buy something? Find 10 weight loss pros and give them 5 samples-- now you're talking.

    I'd follow the "losing it" trainers -- you could throw yourself into instant success getting one of those to market for you. This could be one of Oprah's favorite things-- remember she is always yo yo ing. Not ready for prime time? There are local "star" trainers.


  • Posted on 12/9/2010 at 8:11 PM Accepted
    I guess I'm not convinced this really addresses a legitimate consumer need and will be perceived by your target audience as a way to scratch some important itch. Given that, I'm not sure what you really accomplish by giving away a bunch of these.

    If the benefit were immediately obvious when someone sees it, then I could see getting them out there so people could see them and want them. But won't people just look at them and scratch their heads? In order to understand the product, they'd have to ask the wearer, "Hey, what are those bands all about? Are you supporting some new charity?"

    I think you probably need to go back to your business and marketing plan and see (a) what the objective is, and then (b) whether giving these away to some folks is the most cost-effective way to accomplish the objective.
  • Posted by ncobb on 12/9/2010 at 8:24 PM Author
    Phil,

    I appreciate the candidness. One of my partners has been telling me to change the site, I should listen more to that advice. The site will be changed. I'm a true novice when it comes to marketing so any advice would be appreciated on how to promote this product.

    Everyone else, please keep it coming.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 12/9/2010 at 11:29 PM Accepted
    Having more people try it and share its effectiveness with others is a good thing. The key is getting them in the right hands, and making it easy for them to share it with others (is your contact info on the band itself?).
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 12/10/2010 at 1:20 AM Accepted
    Looking at the site I feel the same as Phil. What is with making each letter in a word a different colour?

    I then watched the video and was struck by the awkwardness of using the bands, the difficulty of concealing them, and the unattractive appearance they would create on a person's arms.

    I understand the concept, but would have thought in this day and age that a phone app would be a more popular, much more marketable and far more discreet way of recording dietary intake, with the distinct advantage that a longitudinal record could be kept.

    I suppose it depends who you want to target and how effective you expect the product to be in a person's weight reduction program - but for my money, elastic bands do not make attractive accessories for either gender.

    What proportion of the weight loss market is comprised of these people you say are tired of using pen and paper to record their intake, and not up to using phone apps yet?

    Are you chasing a barren section of the target demography?

    Even if there were enticingly large numbers of these people, you have to achieve a very low cost to reach each person and convert them because the price of your product is so low.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 12/10/2010 at 8:08 AM Member
    I must be the only person seeing the value of this. It's not perfect but it has its place. I almost see this akin to an old way of quitting smoking. To put a rubber band on the wrist and when you have a craving, snapping the band. Didn't work for everyone, but it worked for some.

    The USP for spending a nominal amount of money vs something on a computer for free is this-- convenience. The problem with a food log is you may forget to write in something you ate. The seemingly smallest things can sabatoge a diet. A morning TV show recently talked about this. A woman was keeping her log, which looked fine but wasn't losing weight. As she probed, the client wrote she had a boneless chicken breast sandwich, but didn't include the barbeque sauce she put on top. They illustated how these little things can add up to 1K cal's in a week-- that's almost 1/2 a pound! Having it on your wrist means you won't forget those little things.

    Yes, there are smart phone apps, but there are a lot of people resisting smart phones. Sometimes I wonder how "smart" I was getting one. Maybe the person tracking calories isn't his customer. Which is ok, everyone isn't everyone's customer in any biz.

    And as far as fashion accessory-- look around and see how many "Armstrong" rubber bands are out there and how "silly bands" have sold.

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