Wal-Mart begins to advertise Toshiba HD DVD players on television

[Blu-News.com]

http://raven-central.net/ravencinemas/phenomeon.html

It's at the very end of the clip, It's on tonights episode of "Phenomenon", and it was right after the scene with Raven-Symone. I was surprised to see it, I had to find it online, sorry this is the only link I could find.

Here's basically what went down:

You know why I love Wal-Mart? Because I'm getting to do the impossible! I'm giving my husband an HD DVD player, a Toshiba! I mean movies look unbelievable on this thing, and the price was incredible! Even for Wal-Mart I was surprised. All I know is that Christmas is going to be a very good day!"

[barefootdriver]

Originally Posted by SpartanJohnson

http://raven-central.net/ravencinemas/phenomeon.html

It's at the very end of the clip, It's on tonights episode of "Phenomenon", and it was right after the scene with Raven-Symone. I was surprised to see it, I had to find it online, sorry this is the only link I could find.

Ehh I would love to see any format win during our first recession in a long time. I'm going out on a limb and saying this will be the worst christmas season in 5-7 years. If either format has a dominating lead, it will be like Miracle on 34th Street.

But HD-DVD does need a strong marketing campaign.

[Detroit Tigers Fan]

Wow that came out fast!

[goshikisen]

I loved the woman's quote... "and the price was incredible... even for Walmart I was surprised". Yeah, many people are surprised by these prices... especially any reputable CE company that would have possibly made an HD DVD standalone.

What's next? Liquidation World, Value Discount, XS Cargo?

In the meantime Walmart's HD display has 3 sides of Blu-ray and one side HD DVD.

[Geonosis]

The official kick off of Wal-mart's new marketing campaign starts tomorrow. Also expect www.walmart.com/secret/ to launch as well as the new promo site www.savemoneylivebetter.com too. HD DVD is suppose be to on Wal-marts top five list on the Secret site tomorrow.

Great ad, expect a big position for HD DVD on Wal-mart flyers as of Friday.

[Geonosis]

Originally Posted by goshikisen

I loved the woman's quote... "and the price was incredible... even for Walmart I was surprised". Yeah, many people are surprised by these prices... especially any reputable CE company that would have possibly made an HD DVD standalone.

What's next? Liquidation World, Value Discount, XS Cargo?

Sour grapes, please. Target is stuck with a $499 player and not doing anything about it. Yet Wal-mart is heavily engaged in a marketing campaign supporting HD DVD. This is huge, the #1 retailer backs HD DVD.

[noobydoo]

The are also advertising on The Young and The Restless soap opera. That show comes on at 11am CST and its a woman telling why she loves Wal Mart. In effect she can buy a Toshiba HD DVD player at a great price that gives amazing picture quality.

They show the A2 twice and of course the Wal Mart voice comes on to tell about other stuff. A really good and smart ad. Its targeting women during a soap opera convincing them that Wal Mart has the best deal on HD players from a name brand and it would make a great gift for hubby's HDTV.

Hard to argue with that logic.

[goshikisen]

Originally Posted by Geonosis

Wal-mart is heavily engaged in a marketing campaign supporting HD DVD. This is huge, the #1 retailer backs HD DVD.

As I said... Wal-mart's HD display stand has 3 sides Blu-ray and one side HD DVD. Their adverts say one thing but the B&M store displays say something else.

It'll also be interesting when that same woman who goes looking to buy an HD player wants to pick up Cars, Ratatouille, or Spiderman for her kids.

[ack_bak]

Originally Posted by Geonosis

The official kick off of Wal-mart's new marketing campaign starts tomorrow. Also expect www.walmart.com/secret/ to launch as well as the new promo site www.savemoneylivebetter.com too. HD DVD is suppose be to on Wal-marts top five list on the Secret site tomorrow.

Great ad, expect a big position for HD DVD on Wal-mart flyers as of Friday.

I am watching this closely as there is a rumor we will see $14 HD DVD's as well. I am watching this closely, but as of yesterday afternoon none of my local Wal-mart's had any Toshiba HD DVD players yet.

[Geonosis]

Originally Posted by goshikisen

As I said... Wal-mart's HD display stand has 3 sides Blu-ray and one side HD DVD. Their adverts say one thing but the B&M store displays say something else.

Considering the marketing doesn't begin until tomorrow and that the official in-store efforts not until I think Nov 5th, give it time. Remember Target is only now getting the endcaps up, despite getting paid back in July for the deal.

[vooswing]

I love retail websites

I went to Walmart and typed in HD DVD to try to see what the price was after watching the commercial and this is what came up...

Then I typed in HD DVD player and this came up... 2 360 add ons, 1 Blu-ray player and 3 upconverting players...

I have had this happen on several websites when I type in either HD DVD or Blu-ray and I get players from the other format.

Just makes me laugh....

[Geonosis]

Originally Posted by ack_bak

I am watching this closely as there is a rumor we will see $14 HD DVD's as well. I am watching this closely, but as of yesterday afternoon none of my local Wal-mart's had any Toshiba HD DVD players yet.

Also the rumor that the HD DVD player will be $99, but I agree I am also watching it. In regards to local store changes, the press info says Nov 5th I believe.

[barefootdriver]

Originally Posted by goshikisen

As I said... Wal-mart's HD display stand has 3 sides Blu-ray and one side HD DVD. Their adverts say one thing but the B&M store displays say something else.

I hear that. People think, "Ohhh HD-DVD is coming out with a bunch of commericials... its making headway." and I think to myself, "only companies that are hurting for sales need to market themselves strongly."

Since most of you can't read past the first page, I'm quoting myself throughout this thread.

How many in comparison to HD-DVD? Reread please, keyword "strongly" because HD-DVD is going a little harder than Blu-Ray at moment in commercial land.

Heroes and Transformers was all over the place where I live when they were coming out. Problem is that HD-DVD is not diversifying themselves in multiple demographics. This was the problem from the beginning. People want to be enticed. Some people look at price, others look at titles. You have to admit that transformers campaign was at least descent.

I've said this from the beginning, HD-DVD needed to attack the jugular in not only in retailers but in demographics as well.

lol... I'll bite and watch you walk away again. Simple economics. Companies do marketing to gain investors, and when they are satiated at the moment, they pull back from it. How many Honda commercials do you see in comparison to Chrysler? Chrysler is dieing right now and they were bumping up their add campaign for a while. Its easy to understand, why spend more money when you don't need to.

Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are looking for investors, but Blu-Ray has been going at it slowly, and argue or not I remember so many people saying so many times on this forum about the heroes commercial and transformers campaigns while disregarding the disney campaigns for being low-key in the beginning.

Disney's Campaign is Median voter theory. This approach does not show desperation

Median voter theory
if voter policy preferences can be represented as an points along a single dimension, if all voters vote deterministically for the politician that commits to a policy position closest to their own preference, and if there are only two politicians, then if the politicians want to maximize their number of votes they should both commit to the policy position preferred by the median voter.

This theory basically means you start at the edge of voters and lead into the middle ground because thats where most people are so you get access to all voters. The people are the voters. HD-DVD and Blu-Ray are the politicians. Who is hitting who. The median doesn't care or doesn't know about HDM. So a long, and slow campaign that is design to build care and knowledge of the product is logical, but its an investment that takes careful planning. Commercials are a totally different beast. So Disney starting this long campaign on a local level and now have been attacking nationally.

HD-DVD did not do as well on their tour. CBS has been doing commercials much more than ABC. Instead of careful and long planning of a local campaign, commercials are slapped and put together. HD-DVD wanted to hit the median before it even got noticed. Only pressure would make someone make a move like that.

HD-DVD's problem is what it has always been. 360 should of had a HD-DVD drive from the beginning, they should have diversified their catalogue library, but when you rely on Paramount and Universal, you do not get that like you do with Disney. Last they should of gotten people to know what their product actually is.

So you can say 35 million or whatever, but when you span it out for the amount of time it is, its not that bad.

Also why I said "That is what I'm talking about" You make claims and put them out as facts. Show links, show some proof, and if you can't, I will automatically think its invalid. Empirical Data means more to me than claims and concepts.

1st, my original comment came from another talking about how Wal-Mart does commercials and yet has a different look within many of their own stores showing off Blu-Ray more.

2nd, Both companies are desperate because of the time of year. Christmas is like presidential election time for markets like this, but with the current market, Im doubting anyone will be a victor. U.S is a little poor this year.

3rd, I don't watch sports, but I have heard of the commercials you speak of. My main beef with how HD-DVD advertise is their lack of diversity in the way they do it and diversity in demographics.

The company is getting desperate, Blu-Ray has had YTD of estimated 2:1. That may not be a large lead, but when your main sales point is price because you didn't invest in getting people product knowledge and getting in different demographics, its a slap in the face. Using Wal-Mart is try to generate public interests which have been lacking.

IMO, the Disney approach may be slow, but it gets the knowledge out their.

And still the US is 30% HD. This 30% is supposed to decide the fate of the rest of the 10 years?

The Toshiba commercials are going to keep coming stronger if they don't generate more sales, and that is a norm for companies to do.

[Detroit Tigers Fan]

Originally Posted by noobydoo

The are also advertising on The Young and The Restless soap opera. That show comes on at 11am CST and its a woman telling why she loves Wal Mart. In effect she can buy a Toshiba HD DVD player at a great price that gives amazing picture quality.

They show the A2 twice and of course the Wal Mart voice comes on to tell about other stuff. A really good and smart ad. Its targeting women during a soap opera convincing them that Wal Mart has the best deal on HD players from a name brand and it would make a great gift for hubby's HDTV.

Hard to argue with that logic.

Nice...I'm surprised that I never even thought of it that way.
Very smart on their part.

[goshikisen]

Originally Posted by Geonosis

Considering the marketing doesn't begin until tomorrow and that the official in-store efforts not until I think Nov 5th, give it time. Remember Target is only now getting the endcaps up, despite getting paid back in July for the deal.

These HD displays are brand new...