In marketing there is a category known as an "it" campaign. That is where you see billboards and hoardings for "the New Warmth is Coming" but the product remains secret for several months.
Its time to tell every marketing person in the world that secret "it" marketing campaigns don't work.
Back
in 2001 the Segway was a secret project called 'Ginger". The secret
machine was the subject of a six months promotion of unlimited PR.
Steve Jobs of Apple and Jeff Bezos of Amazon joined many others in
claiming, weekly that 'Ginger' was a totally new and revolutionary form
of transportation. They claimed everyone would want one.
The
developer, engineer, Dean Kamen, was on every national TV network show
to promote the secret 'Ginger' product, from late 2001 to early 2002.
The "it" campaign got plenty of attention.
But Ginger, now called the Segway, got few buyers. Even today, seven
years later, with a new oil crisis the Segway has sold less that a
total of $75 million worth of machines. A terrific flop.
Lesson learned?