I'm lovin it!

It’s Friday and I don’t feel like working. That led me to the WWW and I stumbled upon this pretty ad about the Sansa media player. It’s an MP3 player. It’s the brainchild of SanDisk, and they got an idea for a mascot that I believe will be a sleeper hit.

It’s a furry little black creature christened Sansa, the Lil’ Monsta. It’s a HE by the way. You can check him out at http://www.lilmonsta.com/index.php. They’ve got all kinds of cool stuff about his glamour shots (gallery), his vital stats (product specs) and where one can find him.

I always like to analyze the psychological reasons behind most ads. What drives them to make such an ad? You see, it’s an MP3 player and when you think MP3, you think iPod. Apple has an 82 percent market share and Microsoft is coming out with the Zune. So what does some company like SanDisk do when they roll out their MP3 player. They get their best minds in the marketing division to create the Lil’ Monsta.

And that’s what got me thinking about the technology industry. Behind our Lil’ Monsta, is an MP3 player which is a consumer product, just like the TMX Elmo, or the Xbox 360. And like every other consumer product ever made, it is made for one purpose alone, to drive the consumer to spend dollars on buying it, and ultimately generate more revenue/ profits for the manufacturer.

To do that successfully, you need a product that is solid in its features and reliable. You need technologists and engineers to work on everything from the plastic that houses the product to the processors that bring it to life. You need artists to design the shape, color, texture and feel of it. You also need managers who work on project management and Six Sigma to ensure the delivery of the product. I’m talking about highly trained, smart people racking their brains to do a good job. Then you have CEOs talking passionately about how this is the next big thing for the company and how it’s going to change their lives.

To me this is fascinating because there’s so much that happens behind the scenes to get you and me to spend that $139.99 plus taxes at the mall. Now the best part is, you and I can crash their big party, by doing one little thing. Don’t buy it.

And there in lies the challenge.