A big complaint amongst the tight knit Palm community has been the questionable marketing messages in previous Palm Pre ad campaigns. Despite statistics showing that the creepy Palm girl resonated with viewers, it was not very popular with Palm Pre users. (Editor’s note: We actually like the ads). Those ads were run by Palm, who most will agree did a fantastic job with the Palm Pixi ads. Can you get that Sleepyhead song out of your head? In addition to Palm running ads, the carriers also pick up a big part of the marketing responsibility. Most will remember the onslaught of DROID commercials that aired leading up to it’s launch. It was non-stop. As a result, the DROID saw increased sales numbers.
Last week, Verizon launched the Palm Pre Plus and you probably wouldn’t know of it if you didn’t follow tech blogs. So where is the advertising and what’s coming? Well, the first ads we’ve seen cropped up on our iPhone forums at everythingiCafe and color us confused. The banner reads:
“The 3G smartphone
smart enough for mom.”
UPDATE: PreCentral alerts us to a few new ads that have showed upon Verizon’s YouTube account.
Verizon spent a year waiting for webOS devices and this is the campaign that is going to drive adoption of the Palm Pre Plus. Say it ain’t so.
Have you seen a TV ad or perhaps a banner ad with a more appropriate message? What do you think of the new ads. Let us know in the comments.
It’s hard to decide between Sprint and Verizon. However, it appears that Sprint has much better plan pricing. Am I wrong?
For two webOS phones on Sprint, it’s $129.99 a month. That gives you unlimited text and web, 1500 shared minutes, and free minutes to any cell phone.
For two webOS phones on Verizon, it’s $129.97 a month. That gives you unlimited web, 700 shared minutes, and free minutes to ten people. It’s $20 more for 1400 minutes, and $30 more for text (which I don’t really use, but still)
So the problem I’m having is why would anyone want Verizon other than Sprint, apart from the fact that they have the newer model? Not to mention that you can get a Pre and a Pixi for around $100 off Amazon. I was curious if there was anything I was missing before jumping into a new contract
Well,the reason Verizon is targeting women,or moms..is,because,it’s shows that with the Pre being so easy to use,even your mom can use it.It’s a catchy phrase,but the message will turn those moms heads,& wonder,what’s is the PalmPre Plus? with being curious,will drive them to go and checkit out.Why,they’re there..then,the sales rep,he or she can promote and show more of the phone best features.Along with showing these features,mom can say..what’s a PIXI? look nice,i think i can buy a PREPLUS,along with a cute PIXI for my daugther.In the long run,Verizon just kill two birds with one stone. When the PRE drop with Ver.1.0.4 UPDATE,that include Video Recording,Flash,& faster loading speed,than u gonna see a different commmercial targeting the male,with it’s 3d gaming,flash,video recording and so,so.Fof now,it’s just stage one,let wait & see,what they have in plan when Ver.1.0.4 UPDATE come out.
I agree with @cyber4111 (albeit I could barely understand anything they typed, but no worries). I think the ads are done well and kind of make sense. I still think that Palm should stick to ads similar to the Pixi ad (the one with Passion Pit playing in the background). Or at least mix it up a little more and do a few different directions.
I miss the first Palm Pre ads with the blonde girl.
Well, like cyber4111 said, the 1.4 update it’s a jump in performances. When come out, maybe the ad will be different. Perhaps, I love the first palm pixi ad and the Palm Pre from Bell, too.
Joshua,
Get the Palm Pre on Sprint. Their 3G network is faster than that of Verizon. The only real Verizon advantages when it comes to the phone itself is the fact that you have double the memory, and the phone can be used as a mobile hot-spot. Then again, that will cost you another $40 to $50 a month. Get the Sprint one!
I agree with @cyber4111, except that the allure for mothers and other busy women is that the phone can handle all the things they keep up with every day in a small slim package.
My family uses SprintPCS Family everything service because it allows all the unlimted talking, texting and data and with 2 young adults (teenagers when we started the service) the family plan with 3000 shared mintues was eclipsed by Sprint’s family everying plan with 1500 shared minutes because my children actually used text and data much more than voice. This stopped some accidental horrendous charges when my children received text messages from friends and responded to emails on their phone.
Also, be sure to check if you get a discount. My son has his own Sprint plan but he got a 25% company discount so his $74.95 cost was cut to $56.00. My spouse got a company discount as well as a discount for one of the banks I use.
Finally, I am glad to see that the Palm Pre will have an update for video recording because that is the single feature that actually had me really considering going to a different phone from HTC. I would actually like the 5.0 megapixel but 3.0 is fine if I can record video. Also, the PrePlus does have a miniSD slot which was another feature I would have liked on the Pre but I can live without since the phone does have 8GB. I don’t know why Palm would figure that a consumer would not want an SD slot just because there is 8GB of storage in the phone; you can never have too much space!:)