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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JesseK who wrote (9918)	3/30/2000 1:19:00 AM
From: Ausdauer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

Jesse, Rock, Craig, and Thread, I tend to align myself with Rocky's views. I am not saying "blow the budget" on advertising. How much does it cost to trademark a slogan or a logo? How much does it cost to redesign packaging or labelling every year or two? How much does it cost to spruce up a website? I am trying to be "chintzy" in my recommendations. I am not saying "buy a 60 second ad during the NCAA basketball championship" or "splatter SNDK all over every single US periodical for the next year". I am saying help create a culture around SanDisk by defining a brand. Determine what selling points SanDisk will use to stand head-and-shoulders above the rest. Here is another "chintzy" idea... Get "Form and Function" into play. Create CompactFlash cards for Kodak made with goldenrod yellow plastic housing instead of the default color of black. Let them create their own CF label using the traditional gold and crimson or whatever scheme matches their Royal Gold marketing schema for standard film. But get some recognition for it!!! Instead of being an afterthought on the flip side why not emboss SanDisk on the edge of the CF card with the lip (the edge designed for easy handling). When the card is assembled and packaged in this manner, each time the consumer looks into the CF slot the first thing he sees is the embossed cherry-red SanDisk logo with the moon crescent and the sun's rays beaming up at him/her. It is the same thing you see on some foreign currency. In the USA you get ridges. In other countries you may get an embossed saying in Latin on the edge of the coin. It is really classy, IMHO. Here is another example of "chintz"... Make a textured plastic CF with a metallic silver plastic alloy that looks and feels like a space age material. The texture could be any number of possible patterns to give the look and feel something more substantial than plastic. Make it feel like the side armor of a tank or an impenetrable armor. Hell, make it feel like fake alligator skin and sell it to the Italian digital camera market. As long as it fits into the CF slot I am sure the CompactFlash Association will not object. Here is another cheapo idea... When a CF card is inserted in an ImageMate there should be a two second jingle that plays to indicate that the card reader has recognized the card. The jingle would be an unmistakeable SanDisk jingle. It is the same thing Microsoft uses when you boot up Windows from a cold start. It is the same ploy used when a jingle heralds your the sync'ing of your PDA to your PC. It is an audible reminder of your investment in SanDisk quality. Here is another... Begin promoting your technology. Call the CF card sporting the 128Mbit flash chip the SanDisk CF "Millennium" card. When 256Mbit/D2 comes to market, its now SanDisk CF "Millennium II" or SanDisk CF "Millennium Turbo". When the 512/D2 technology come out call it SanDisk CF "Millennium Arsenal". Each new generation distinguishes itself from the previous and from the competitor. Not every name is a guaranteed winner. For Pete's sake, Intel tried to trademark "386", "486" and "586" until some marketing maven awoke from his slumber and came up with "Pentium". The point is... Brand recognition can take many forms. A defining slogan, a catchy logo, a tactile reassurance of quality, or an audible jingle you just can't get out of your head. Basically it could be anything that subliminally jars your cerebrum and deepens your awareness of the product you have purchased. Ausdauer