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In Reply to: RE: Power and responsibility posted by John Atkinson on May 23, 2008 at 18:42:56
I was having a conversation with a friend of mine last night, and he brought up a very salient point: There's a combined responsibility here between press and producer. But as the producer has gotten lazy and looked for the "slam dunk" review to do his marketing for him, the press has been gurufied - willingly or unwillingly - and some level of codependence may have erupted as a result.When reviewers screw up, there are not really any consequences for them
personally, except perhaps in the very long term. But manufacturers and
dealers can be significantly affected by the screw-up.Conversely, manufacturers and dealers can be significantly affected by the rave review as delivered by the guru. It's an interesting issue that I've had some disappointing personal experience with when it comes to promoting goods to dealers.
"The world is not run by thought, nor by imagination, but by opinion."-Elizabeth Drew
Case in point, from a few years ago: After having spent considerable time, effort, money on shows like CES, after having spent even more on adverts, I visited two high-profile dealers in the northeast to demonstrate product and, hopefully, get them to agree to represent the product. The demos went extremely well, and I thought that we had a reasonable shot. I was told point blank in both cases that they find it almost impossible to sell without a fantastic review from TAS or SP in the can. That without said over-the-top review, they didn't feel confident representing the brand.
We can debate whether or not this is the dealer's fault, the manufacturer's fault, the press' fault, no fault and just market conditions, but I think that would be beside the point. The idea that "the review makes the market" - the deeply felt perception that reviews and sales are a critical cause-and-effect - seems to have permeated the industry almost universally. Reviewers depend on great products to crow about, readers depend upon reviews to focus their attention on what seems worthy, and producers and dealers depend upon reviews to drive consumer interest in sales.
This, in turn, has elevated the importance of the reviewer in the equation. With the advent of reviewers taking in prototypes and coronating them as "best" before product #1 has even hit the street, we witness the elevation of the review as more important than the product itself, and the elevation of the reviewer as Prophet.
I may have been a bit overzealous in my criticism of JV on this matter. As an isolated incident it seems almost silly. What I saw in this, however, was a new trajectory point in the saga - and the future appeared miserable.
Chris
"Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true." - Niels Bohr
Edits: 05/24/08Follow Ups:
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