Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Bailey
There we are taking "pre-orders" in the US for a car without a release date, or even a remote clue on pricing, and to top that off, we haven't even seen pictures of the inside of the car, and that car will have zero track time in the US before its release.
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Then tell them release pictures of the inside of the car. Explain to them they're going about it all wrong. Adam, this forum makes it clear they should have been releasing information immediately, and so does R/C Tech. It's akin to customer service. Make the customer happy. The customers WANT to see the car even if it's a prototype. Don't keep the customer in the dark, don't make the customer feel like they aren't worthy, don't make the customer feel like the car doesn't even exist, don't make the customer go buy another car because they don't know anything about the CAT... There isn't a single person in the world outside of Schumacher that believes it's a good idea to keep the car a secret, and the threads on here prove it, as well as the one on R/C Tech. EVERYONE wants info and pictures, they don't care if the car is ugly...
I have no clue what kind of marketing knowledge Schumacher has, but it goes against everything the rest of the world knows... Even giant car companies, real car companies, dealing with billions of dollars in cars and probably an equal amount in marketing research, release pictures of their prototypes. Concept cars. It builds up hype for the actual car.
It works, otherwise they wouldn't do it. It's a simple concept and the threads on these forums have proven it over and over. The Aero is the best example... They were letting that thing be seen by the public months ago and everyone wanted one then, no one said "Eww it's aluminum and dirty, I don't want one." Everyone said "Oooh, great design, it's already winning races and it's not even finished yet! I want one!" I still want one, just based on the fact that the aluminum clunky prototype was winning races ages ago. I just can't afford one.
The biggest mistake Schumacher's ever made was not having the proto on an American dirt track right away. I'm a huge Schumacher fan, but right now, I think the car will be useless on an American track and I'm tempted to get a Serpent instead because I believe it will hold up better on a rough track... NOTHING has been done to prove the car will be able to handle the dirt tracks I run on.
When the CAT and the S500 are released, and the S500 has already been winning races and proven to be a good car, and the CAT is still untested, people will buy an S500. Even worse scenario, when the S500 is released, and Schumacher hasn't even released pictures of the inside of the CAT, people will give up and get an S500 because they still won't even know what's inside the CAT. Of course there are those that are absolutely loyal to Schumacher and will buy one without ever having seen it, but there will be a LOT more people who are on the fence, who have no loyalties to Schumacher or any other car company, and will just go with whichever car seems the best, whichever car they know the most about. People need to know about the CAT NOW.
Frankly it makes my head hurt to think that Schumacher doesn't understand these concepts........
Now, don't get me wrong,I'm in no way bashing Schumacher, I love my Mi-3, I love how helpful everyone at Schumacher USA is, and how helpful all your team drivers are. I'm saying all this because, frankly, I'm worried that this car is going to bomb in sales and lose a lot of money because of the poor decisions Schumacher is making in building up hype for the car, building a reputation for the car, and teaching people about the car...