Comments on: Products are Worthless

By: We have become value providers, not product providers.

We have become value providers, not product providers. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:53:38 +0000

[...] Two things: – Products are worthless until they are introduced to the situation where they create value. (link) [...]

By: Naveen

Naveen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:12:50 +0000

I do agree with the line of thought that products are worthless without appropriate context of use. As a product designer I always tried to solve the functional problem first i.e. products should help user to do certain task and provide values to the desired interactions people want to have with the product in the given context.

Considering situation is always the key in designing. Although sometimes products do create the situation and not you first create a situation and use any product to create the same experience then products are not worthless?

By: helgetenno

helgetenno — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:14:14 +0000

True that! Jeroen. In comms. it’s the sizzle :o)

My point is to look outside attention and interest – how can digital ad more value to a product already sizzling? And how can digital extend the value of a product experience outside of what it is already creating.

I find that with technology’s immersion into every day life a whole new set of opportunities emerge for marketers. What I try to do is to understand how all this affects the mindset we should have when work for clients, and at the same time try to understand how this effects the media industry – and discover the next generation “advertising”.

By: Jeroen

Jeroen — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 07:44:49 +0000

Well said, and very true. Products without their context are boring and lead to “featurespeak”. In fac, it is usually the context that lends itself best to being sold.

I think it was Mr. Ogilvy himself who,back in the 1950′s, coined the phrase “Don’t sell the steak, sell the sizzle”…

By: helgetenno

helgetenno — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:58:51 +0000

Hi Adrian
Thank you for your attribution, always appreciate your valuable input, this is no exception. (I’ve been looking for an idea spark like this for weeks :o)

If I understand you correctly you are saying that as we are talking about situations (contexts), it’s not only important to understand the existing situation where the product already is creating value (and extend on this value), but also to look for new and other situations, which can be combined with our situation to create new unseen but gamechanging opportunities – what Mike Walsh calls “temporary states of monopoly”.

Like Fiat Eco:Drive, finding a brilliant way to combine the driving context with the eco-friendly context.

Again, brilliant spark :o) Thank you!

best
Helge

By: Adrian Ho

Adrian Ho — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:31:38 +0000

I like this line of thought Helge. I think you’re talking about the basic role of marketing here. I’d add to this the thought that advertising can explain context, while digital services and design can create context. Advertising helps you think differently about a product, digital services and design can change how you use it.

Great post.