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March 21, 2007
Attack it’s weak point for massive damage
(Cross-posted from HedgeStop.com)
It’s reality for anyone doing anything in this day and age: no matter how strongly you intend for your product to be used in a certain way, your users can decide how it will actually be used. Viagra was created to treat heart problems. MySpace came about as a way of promoting bands. But eBay was not created to sell Pez dispensers, no matter what their PR department says.
With the growth of YouTube and other collective media sites, and the decreasing cost of good quality photo, sound, and video editing software, users and critics can now also take presentations and use them for other things. Here’s a great example, from the E3 conference in 2006: A horrible presentation from Sony on the PlayStation 3 was reedited and distributed online to mock the Sony producer who gave it.
And here’s a little background from YTMND:
Giant Enemy Crab
At one stage of the conference, a Sony producer gave out a presentation for the game Genji 2. During this demonstration he made a complete fool out of himself by first explaining that the entire game was based on Japanese history, before adding "so here's this Giant Enemy Crab". He then proceeded to flip said crab onto its back and attack its weak point for Massive Damage (it should be pointed out that no historical evidence for such events actually occurring in ancient Japan has ever been brought forward). As if this wasn't ridiculous enough, the producer went on to outline some of the mind-boggling next-gen features his game would include: features such as "real-time weapon change" and "real-time character change", which - of course - "could only be made possible with the power of the PlayStation 3".
YTMNDs on this subject vary greatly in scope, but usually have some manner of Enemy Crab appearing in unusual places. Sometimes a Giant Enemy Crab is photoshopped into ancient Japanese tapestries or onto the blackboard in Japanese history classrooms. There was also a spate of vandalism on the Wikipedia entry for crabs, with people inserting references to certain large, malicious, ancient Japanese varieties.
The lesson here isn’t to step out of the limelight. A great presentation can make you just as easily as a bad presentation can break you. (For example, check out this post on the best presentations ever, most of which are available on video sharing sites like YouTube and Google Video.) But if you’re stepping out and making presentations, or moving your company into new territory, realize that you will be mocked and criticized, and it’s not always a bad thing. In this case, the old cliché “there’s no news but good news” is true – you’re getting exposure and publicity and name recognition. And you’re also getting market feedback that 10 years ago you would have had to pay a ton for.
There’s also a chance you’ll get ideas to move in a direction you didn’t consider – a new market, a new product, or a new service. And at the very least, you’re also learning to avoid the giant enemy crabs…
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