Re: I wish....
Hello,
Another rant. I wish these Audio gear manufacturers would stop advertising gear that's not even available. I'm not talking about prototypes or feelers at trade shows, I'm talking about real Advertisements in trade magazines.
Hammer
Perhaps I can speak from the manufacturer's point of view. My goal, as the person that places much of the advertising for the company where I work, is to always time the ads to "hit the streets" right when the product actually comes out. This way, there is no potential lost. By potential, I mean interest in the product, actual sales of the product, and competitive intel. For instance, if a product is advertised too early, the competitors find out, the potential market learns of it and then becomes interested. However, since it is not out yet, the competitors can craft a response, and the buying market loses interest.
If the advertising starts too late, some of the potential sales of the product might be lost as well. A "soft launch" can work, but can also forfeit the "excitement" a well timed launch can generate.
All of that said, getting the timing right can be tricky. To place an ad in print, for instance, some magazines require the art 2 months in advance of the street date. So then a decision has to be made: when will the product actually be finished? Often times this is a "best guess" on the part of the company. Sometimes this guess can be horribly wrong for all sorts of unforeseen circumstances. I've been through this dozens, maybe hundreds of times in my career and I can tell you it's not fun to see your ad dollars wasted while some ridiculous part from an unreliable supplier holds everything up.
Of course it's possible that some companies want to "prep the market" or spoil the waters for the competition by announcing early.
