MySpace Poll

Demiurge

This thread is exactly why you don't a MySpace page for Polk Audio. Just picture this thread with various hacked versions of the English language.

Airplay355

Polk car audio with a tiny link to the home audio section maybe....

aaharvel

i was referring to Polk Audio's position in Circuit City chains, which is where most people know of Polk Audio.

M, and monitor. At a time, there were RTi's in there.

cmy330go

I say go for it!!!!! Much of the bad things said about MySpace (pedophiles, sex offenders, etc...) could be said about AOL, MSN, ICQ, or the Internet in general. However that does not change the fact that millions of people are using it for good things such as keeping in touch with friends and/or discovering new talent.

Personally my primary use for a MySpace account is to sample music by artists you aren't likely to find elsewhere. There is a wealth of great music and music lovers on MySpace, and what better way to enjoy great music than through great speakers!

Also from a marketing standpoint, I think it would be foolish not to take advantage of free advertising on the now #1 ranked site (overtook Yahoo and Google last week) on the web. Let's face it, many of us older ones know how to look for good audio, but most of the younger public don't have a clue, and are therefore likely to take one of the first things put in front of them. Why shouldn't that be Polk?????

Once again......GO FOR IT!!!

Later!:)
Dave

Polkersince85

Interesting concept from a marketing point of view. From past threads, I believe the median age of primary Club Polk members is older than the majority of members on myspace. We tend to speak(sic) in whole words and sentences. Many of us are fairly well educated and are technically oriented. Sometimes, engineering trainng and marketing doesn't mix very well. Many of us know (an love) the old Polk: that distinctive sound heard from the mini mon to the 1.2TL. Times have changed and so has the way a company must place its products in front of a potential customer.
That being said, I think a product such as the car audio line would be the product that may have the most success on a place like MySpace. Probably more car speakers and audio gear could be sold than large home systems. Profit margins would probably be greater also. If this is the path Polk wants to take, do it with a long term program of branding the name with the prize being a customer of the high end items.
Just be careful..........Listen to Indignation

VR3

Bose dosnt even have a My Space.

dorokusai

I'm all for a MySpace presence for Polk Audio.

It gets an obscene amount of attention and I'm not aware of Polk Audio being on the news for being a pedophile, rapist or trash monger, so what would be the difference between them and all the legitmate MyS users?

As an example....There are ALOT of bands, and MAJOR names, that use MyS as a venue for getting their message, music and venue list out to local folks and interested parties....is that also negative and not cool?

Perhaps Polk wants to see what happens. What could possibly happen that doesn't happen here already...or hasn't? This place is at times just as out of control as any MyS location I've perused in my travels.

I'd bet 1/4 of the Polk user database surfs for **** and all of sudden MySpace is the heretic? Give me a break.

Rock on, add me to the friends list.

cmy330go

Just another thought.

As has been said before by myself and others; MySpace is an outstanding source of good music. Would it not be good if Polk could become partners or maybe even sponsors of some of the more popular artists? Klipsch, B&W, and others have been doing essentially that same thing for years. Anyone who has thumbed through a Klipsch brochure no doubt saw at least one well known artist pictured next to a stack of their speakers. Why not do the same with the smaller guys, but on a more diverse and way less expensive scale?

brettw22

The biggest downside is that ultimately, nothing Polk Related can officially be experienced or demo'd (like the music of a band). It'd be purely for the purpose of brand recognition, depending on how they utilize it. To use it as a site saying this is what we have seems duplicitous to this one, but I guess more venues can never hurt. Tens of thousands of people aren't going to just visit an FYI site, so they need to have plans to make it more involved with people, bulletins about shows, promotions, etc.....

dorokusai

brettw22 wrote:

The biggest downside is that ultimately, nothing Polk Related can officially be experienced or demo'd (like the music of a band). It'd be purely for the purpose of brand recognition, depending on how they utilize it. To use it as a site saying this is what we have seems duplicitous to this one, but I guess more venues can never hurt. Tens of thousands of people aren't going to just visit an FYI site, so they need to have plans to make it more involved with people, bulletins about shows, promotions, etc.....

Actually you can hear music clips on MySpace, of that given band, since that's the example...so it's a moot point.

You mean a realistic demo can't be heard?...kinda like the Polk demo you would have in a Circuit City or Tweeter? Please let me know where a B&M has a stellar Polk demo, as that would be truly groundbreaking.

If Polk put a 1/3 of the effort that Bose does, in regards to in-store demos and aggression, the brand would be a shining example of real sound. The in-store demos of Polk suck...period, and they have sucked for more than the last week or month.

I am basically ignored when I bring up an issue in-store, or patronized until I leave when it comes to this subject, so why bother anymore? The hammer action needs to occur at the corporate level, as the fans are simply rebuked.

Polk should partner up and promote music at the same time, perhaps independent artists or local venues in big markets, but I'm just a flunkie.

Mike682

dorokusai wrote:

You mean a realistic demo can't be heard?...kinda like the Polk demo you would have in a Circuit City or Tweeter? Please let me know where a B&M has a stellar Polk demo, as that would be truly groundbreaking.

If Polk put a 1/3 of the effort that Bose does, in regards to in-store demos and aggression, the brand would be a shining example of real sound. The in-store demos of Polk suck...period and they have sucked for more than the last week or month.

This is where Polk needs to step it up. Polk needs to effectively market its product in retail stores. Their products should not be thrown around the room, being used as door stops, etc..

As for Bose, their sales marketing is effective because it makes the customer believe he is getting something better. Their model is to seperate themselves from the others and to assert themselves to be the better product. They do this in part by having excellent in-store demos. So far, I have never seen a Bose product misplaced in a store, but too many times I have seen Polk products being treated like garbage. This can and does have a negative effect on the prospective customer.

cmy330go

dorokusai wrote:

.....If Polk put a 1/3 of the effort that Bose does, in regards to in-store demos and aggression, the brand would be a shining example of real sound. The in-store demos of Polk suck...period, and they have sucked for more than the last week or month......

The man has a point. When I was in retail you could always count on Polk to put on the best product trainings, and give you the most useful information. However the problem is they still have to put their faith in the LAZY sales persons. Unfortunately in this day and age it seems customers sell themselves the items and most salespeople are really just clerks. Most are content to walk in a store and push "any button" on a Bose display and be dazzled by crap. Then the LAZY sales person walks up and asks what color they want, and it's all over. Unfortunately for Polk, the sales people are more than happy to do this because of the fat commissions paid on Bose. At my last place of employment you could make anywhere from $120 to over $300 for "clerking" a Bose lifestyle system. When you can make that kind of money for just ringing something up, why would you want to spend tons of time on speaker demos? After all, you might miss the next Bose "Lay Down".:rolleyes:

Anyway.......I still vote yes on the MySpace thing.:D

brettw22

dorokusai wrote:

Actually you can hear music clips on MySpace, of that given band, since that's the example...so it's a moot point.

I was saying that I couldn't hear a Polk Speaker on Myspace comparative to actually BEING able to listen to a Band. Polk isn't a tangible online, whereas music is.

I agree on the in-store issues, but that's a whole different beast than an online popularity site.

schwarcw

30% positive is statstically a pretty good yes!

Carl

danger boy

i think it's an ok idea.. but rather i'd prefer to have Polk Audio do more advertising. Believe it or not.. there are consumers who have never heard of Polk Audio.

THey are some of my relatives, friends, co workers... they have just never heard the name Polk Audio. (yeah, hard to belive that i have friends.. ha ha).

Then i ask the same people have you ever heard of Bose? Yup, sure enough. most, not all had. What does that tell you right there? Bose does an impressive job of advertising it's products.

I'd like to see some stats on the average MySpace user. it is a 32 yr old male in middle America with a 6 figure income? Or is it a 15 yr old boy or girl in middle America looking to make friends with other teens and share pictures and music? Who truely is their biggest user of MYSpace.com?

I don't have a MYSpace website.. I value my privacy.. and i'm not looking for friends.. or to get more messages/email from sexy Annie selling me Viagra. I already get enough of that from my own email accounts.

Bottom line.. Polk Audio should increase it's advertising... take it to TV, take it to cable TV, take it to PodCasts, ITunes, radio broadcasts, etc... get the word out that you need these Polk Audio speakers.

I don't know of any product besides IPod's that don't require any advertising to sell them. But even Apple uses advertising to sell more IPods. Why are IPods so popular? Advertising.. they got the word out to the consumers and they bit, hard.

tonyb

Reputation means alot,why ruin it further.Every product needs some form of advertisement.Myspace is a bad idea,period.Most baby boomers have the dough for speakers,and they are not looking on myspace for them.Trying to stretch adv. dollars and rebuild a reputation does have a fine line in there that you just don't cross...and myspace...is crossing that line.

reeltrouble1

bobman1235 wrote:

.

I'm amazed that some of you ever gave up the Victrola for them new-fangled electronics, the way you're talking, holy crap.

Please feel free to log off and leave at anytime, my Victrola needs a new needle, dont suppose you have one.:mad: :cool::rolleyes:

I would rather see Polk associate itself with a more conservative site as the sexual pornographic undertones of a site can influence how a customer sees a sponsor or user.

RT1

cfrizz

Good points Al & Ted!

If Polk had as many ads in stereo magazines as Bose does I'm pretty sure sale would pick up!

While I'm sure that all demographics are represented on MySpace, I'll bet a good portion are kids. And you can't put Polks into your pocket & go which is what most are interested in. And you can't hear what Polks sound like over the internet!

dorokusai

I think Polk knows more about how to market a product than any of us can sit on the toilet, and think about as we turn a page in a magazine. It's easy to say do this do that, when you don't know what you're talking about in the first place.

You'd be suprised how little print ads influence the actual marketplace. That is a qoute from someone who actually knows...get my drift?

Take a step back and look at your actual foothold in this community....it's a public user forum and you happen own a couple Polk speakers....WOO HOO! Stop the presses! Big F'n deal.

*The "you" in this statement is generic, lest one of you folks get all upset and start crying.

-justin-

Mazeroth wrote:

First off, congrats for landing a killer job at Polk Audio!

Second, you're new title is "Marketing Program Manager". Ummm...yeah.

Yes welcome Eliza!

I think the myspace account is a great idea. And I love the poll results and comments. Proof that there's a large segment of people we aren't reaching.

How come you guys can't come up with good ideas like this? Sheesh!

~Justin

ND13

Instead of actually setting up a Polk page(where things COULD start to get ugly with brand bashing, namely Polk bashing), why not just buy some advertising space on the site.

dorokusai

The MySpace site can be policed and edited as easily as this place is, perhaps even moreso.

criverajr

I have a 15 year old son and various younger family members who use MS, if you look at the demographics MS is catering to the younger crowd who could give 2 Sh**ts about Polk Audio even in there car audio segment. It's a bad idea in my opinion, Bose is Bose but look at the the way they market their products and to me it's alot more effective tham Polk Audio. I have gone to their showrooms and demo rooms, and after their presentations have seen people lined up to buy the "inferior product", when was the last time you went into a Circuit City and saw lines of people buying Polk Audio speakers. If this was such a good idea, then just do it, don't ask us as opinions are like Aholes, everybody has one, and from what I can see alot of people on this board seem to think the idea is flawed. Carry on.

CRj

ND13

I'm pretty sure the decision has already been made.

Jstas

Sorry, I know nobody will listen but I was perusing the forums after filling out the "Win Free Speakers Survey" and stumbled on this gem of a thread!

First off, why do so many of you have such issues "thinking outside of the box"? PolkAudio is one of the few companies out there with such a rabid fan/customer base that they actually support in droves. I know first hand. I'm wearing my Polk Audio 'fest '05 shirt today. Just because the Marketing Department is bringing up the idea of a MySpace account does not mean that they are looking to advertise and sell speakers.

Hold on now, stay with me here. The #1 goal of any company is to sell product. However, that is not done through ads alone. You need to build a customer base. How do you do that? By putting the customer first. Something Polk Audio already does. You need to stay fresh and adaptive to the market to keep interest though. How do you do that? Exploit trends.

MySpace is 100% free and while ads will not be easy to put up, you can build a business base out of it. Go to MySpace and look up Jim Gaffigan's page. He's a comic and his page is very business oriented. He uses the site for not only his blog but to keep updates of tour dates and news of media releases and appearances.

Polk Audio should be exploiting this tool and the car audio side is a better way of doing it than the home audio. MySpace appeals to the younger demographics which are what Polk Audio needs to attract to stay viable in tomorrow's marketplace. They already have a pretty good hold on today's marketplace. MySpace is potatially an essential part of the Polk Audio future. Afterall, the "stupid kids" in that "deplorable world of car audio" will eventually become crotchety old adults, adverse to change, that will remember the heyday of the LSi series and log on to Polk Audio's website to incessantly demand and chant that they "Bring back the LSi!!!" You don't get those future customers by ignoring what they find interesting now.

Polk Audio can use MySpace to not only post dates of shows that they will be sending representation too but they can also use it as a site to contact Polk Audio in one way or another. They can also use it as an online newspaper just like the one your get in the mail every so often. The blogs can be used for Matt and his senior leadership to address thier customer base and even give updates on new product releases. MySpace also allows you to survey with impromptu polls and such for a quick, unscientific way of guaging the public's reaction.

As far as the liability comment, Polk Audio would have to leave that up to it's lawyers but, since MySpace is a public forum, liability is a gray area unless Polk Audio is posting inappropriate or socially irresponsible content. When have we ever seen Polk Audio do such things?

Polk Audio needs to reach a demographic. They need to get the word out and drum up interest. MySpace, this morning, was named the most visited website, period. They even beat out Yahoo! Mail for that title. They are number one and have a user base in the tens of millions with daily unique visits in the millions and monthly levels of visits in the billions. Yeah, you want to reach people, MySpace will do it.

Polk Audio and pretty much anyone looking for exposure cannot afford to ignore MySpace. It is an immensly powerful tool and even if MySpace charged to use it, Polk Audio would gain invaluable advertising.

As far as "ruining the Polk name", let Matt worry about that. Afterall, it is his name, his company and he'll do with it as he pleases. If he wants to take a risk to expand the business then he can and I support it 100%.

I'm all for it Polk Audio. If you want to go and build a MySpace site, go for it! I'm glad to see you guys working outside of the norm. It keeps it fresh and unique. Polk Audio is an industry leader in not only technology but just plain flat-out ideas and this is one of those ideas that will set a trend. Go for it and get your druthers!

Demiurge

:eek:

Hey, Chucklehead -- they asked "What do you think about this?"

criverajr

It's a social networking page whose visitors are very young to young users who's opinions change like the wind. If Polk Audio ran a full page ad for a week and went back and asked 1000 people who visited that page how many purchased a Polk Audio product because of that ad, honestly tell me how many of these young kids would say that the ad helped them buy a PA product. You would be surprised on how many people ignore the ads on MS and just want to get to their pages and socialize with their friends. Again I am talking from experience from monitoring my son and his friends and my nieces and nephews on MS. All the rest of us adults are talking from an adult perspective.

CRj

PolkThug

It doesn't matter if they buy anything now, name recognition is priceless.

For instance, my first Polk memory is from age 15 or 16. When I turned 30 and bought my first house and started looking for home theater speakers I came across the Polk name again and remembered seeing the "teardrop" Polk car audio tweeters as a teenager. Now, both my house and my car are decked out in Polk products.

This might not be a bad thing after all, but I'm curious as to how Polk would get people to actually look at the Polk MySpace page.

cfrizz

Thuggy, your story corresponds beautifully with an article I read in Sound & Vision!

They were talking about how home audio is going the way of the Dodo Bird since EVERYONE is buying Ipods!

What you just described in your life is exactly what S&V conclusions were. It's not dying, Polk & others simply have to wait 15-20 yrs until the kids comprehension of good music & wallet have grown accordingly! LOL!

Hopefully there are enough of us old farts to keep them in business until the kids grow up!

reeltrouble1

Well its just Club Polk, where someone is sure to bash or tell you your wrong, dont know, and so on. At least thats the way in the years I have been here, mind you I am not complaining and actually enjoy all the hub-bub.

Rock on Polk Audio and the Forum. Yes, please let me add a BIG WELCOME to Eliza.

Hey Justin, you should of thought this better watch out, looks like Matthew hired a winner!!!