September 5th, 2005
Hitachi Declares Hard Drives the “New Bling”
By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
Don’t get me wrong, I have been loving hard drives for more years than I care to say, but I am always suspicious when a marketing company decides to position something in a hip way that of course means that a) it’s no longer hip and b) the product has now officially “jumped the shark.”
So today, Hitachi has created an animated hip hop promo called “hard drives are the new bling” - meaning that everything will soon sport a tiny Hitachi hard drive, so all those fancy gadgets are really just hard drive bling. Uh ok…not sure if I buy that, or if anyone will every buy into the concept, but the promo is fun to watch. Enjoy.
Click to Watch the Video (Flash required)
Lockergnome's Tech News Watch says:
Hitachi Declares Hard Drives the “New Bling”
Don’t get me wrong, I have been loving hard drives for more years than I care to say, but I am always suspicious when a marketing company decides to position something in a hip way that of course means that a) it’s no longer hip and b) the product ha…
September 5th, 2005 at 12:20 pm
Rob says:
God, that’s absurd. It reeks of a bunch of 40-something marketing folk trying to figure out how they can make their technology “more accessible” to the urban/suburban demographic. Ugh.
I like where the technology’s heading, though. It really paves the way for the convergence everyone’s looking for. The power consumption isn’t too bad (190mA write, 310mA peak), and in a phone the added draw may not even be noticeable when you’ve already got features like full-colour screens and GPS and whatnot. Not to mention that the drive wouldn’t even have to be spinning 90% of the time in something like a phone.
I’d like to see one of these in a little case with a USB connection, too. It wouln’t be too much bigger than your typical CF thumb-drive. I’d buy it…
September 5th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
Alice says:
I agree - the technilogy is cool without the awful marketing spin. Even Microsoft didn’t make Windows the “new bling” although we have yet to see how they will market Vista (she says shuddering.)
September 5th, 2005 at 4:27 pm
David Johnston says:
Wow, that is probably the saddest video I’ve ever seen. Frankly, my mouth is hanging open in an expression of shock and disbelief. I hope that’s the first and the last time we see any commercial trying to make hard drives, of all things, look “hip”.
September 5th, 2005 at 6:14 pm
Alice says:
My guess is that they wanted to go for the hip iPod marketing and ended up with this mess. You have to be really careful with this demographic and this sounds like a 50 year old guy in ponytail vs. real marketing that resonates (no matter what the age of the marketeer.) Personally, I am not a fan of Apple or the iPod, but they have this “wrapped like a mummy” as the hip hop crowd would say. This attempt is just sad.
September 5th, 2005 at 9:29 pm
David says:
I’m just glad I have two maxtors. I’ll be opening up my ipod to make sure it doesn’t contain a hitachi and then whimpering while I delete all evidence that I ever watch 1 minute of that video.
Creepy.
September 6th, 2005 at 12:00 am
John Corliss says:
This is ludicrous. The only reason manufacturers are pushing this technology is because hard drives have a limited life span. Fixed technology like non-volitile RAM is the way to go, but of course they will only build planned obsolescence into it as well.
About the flash - like so many other advertisers, they prefer to portray women as being infallible and all-knowing, while men are portrayed as fools. I guess then, that they’re marketing to women and the product isn’t meant for me then.
One more thing - if anybody ever catches me tapping my foot to rap “music”, you have my permission to SHOOT ME.
September 6th, 2005 at 3:51 am
Alice says:
I went through two hitachi hard drive failures in my Thinkpad. There is something wrong with that brand, I swear. When can we get 60GB flash drives? (Affordable)
September 6th, 2005 at 10:59 am