“Phone calls and face book are no substitute for spooning by a fireplace.” Anyone in a long distance relationship reads this and knows it’s true. When you’re really serious about someone even being apart for a weekend can be difficult, now imagine being apart for an entire year, or even longer. Modern innovations have allowed us to create some pretty unbelievable things that were previously unfathomable. One such discovery is Mutsugoto.
Mutsugoto is a product that allows a couple, though separated physically, to feel as if they are not alone when in bed. The specially designed beds are made to transfer movements from one partner to the other despite being in different locations. Using touch activated rings and cameras the couples simulate stroking one another, which appears as a stream of glittering light for their partner. While neither partner feels a physical sensation, both can imagine the sensuality of their loved one’s touch.
A product like this, unfortunately, may not be a hot seller, considering the amounts that consumers would need to shell out for the special bed, and all of the technology required to make the system work. For many, this money would be better spent on a plane ticket home or at the very least a webcam, so they can actually see their partner.
For this reason, the manufacturers of Mutsugoto will need to work hard in their advertising, which is even more difficult for them because typical advertising techniques will not work. There is no common brand that people will associate it with, and very little opportunity for product placement. The most likely advertising technique used by this company to sell this product will be emotional branding. The advertisers will need to appeal to their customers emotional attachment to their significant other and emphasize their distress about separation in order to make the product, and the opportunities that the product provides, worth the money.
The company could also use narrowcasting, the concept of appealing to only a small group of consumers, working under the belief that a general audience does not exist. Because this product will only benefit a very small, select group of people, the manufacturers will be more likely to advertise to this audience.
Other marketing techniques most likely will not work because there is no ‘cool’ status related to this product and because it will be difficult to introduce it into any other forms of media, such as film or television, because it is such a mysterious new product, and would not be a natural addition to most forms of media.
It is clear that a product with such a small and target audience will be difficult to advertise. Most of the more common techniques will not apply for this innovation and the company will have to really stress the emotional need for this product.
