There is a lot more CD-i merchandising than we knew of until this package popped up. This is a collection of rare CD-i merchandising material like pens, clips, pins, watches and even stamps to collect. Some of them were offered before on auction sites like the pins and the clips, we've see these before, but the pens for example are unique to us. This collection originally comes from Peer Custers, who we know from discovering the unreleased wireless trackerball pointing device on CD-i. The prototype that is now available to see in the Home Computer Museum in Helmond!
"It's an often overlooked aspect that CD-i was all about the progression of CD, an interactive design. A good idea in theory but very difficult to communicate these ideas to an audience that still had difficulty working a VCR let alone surf the latest innovations offered by CD-i. Technology is the key and CD-i players gave plenty of it with CD-Audio, Photo-CD, VideoCD and of course CD-i. Surely an all in one box couldn't fail? In retrospect Philips were terribly wrong if the vague rumours of a $2 Billion lose are to be believed. Undoubtedly the format was a failure. Talking to Peer Custers, a man at the forefont of CD-i design we finally get a chance to peel back the thinking behind this technology and some of the innovations that perhaps deserves more attention."
The Product Management job can best be described as a "linking pin" between market and industry. This process of continuous communication between market and industry and vice versa is the main task of a Product Manager. On basis of all kinds of market information, both quantitative and qualitative, specifications of products are drafted. In parallel styling concepts are worked out into product designs. First on basis of computer renderings (in my early days these were conventional drawings on paper). The next step is 3D-renderings, followed by real models (called dummies or mock-ups). Final selection is made. Commercial introduction of the product is scheduled on basis of the start of the selling season. Sales of new consumer electronics products usually start in September with a peak in December. It then slows down and already in February/March prices are dropping (special discounts, action models, etc.). In May the trade is informed of the new range of products to be introduced for the new season. Selling in (sales to the trade) already starts.
The watches below we've never seen before:
In cooperation with product development and production estimates are made for cost price and required development and tooling budgets. A project plan is drafted. Once all parties involved have agreed to all parameters, the project gets the green light. Development starts and progress is monitored on basis of so-called "milestones" agreed upon in the project plan. Product Management plays a major role as they have to safeguard that product specifications are respected, the timeline is respected, development budget is not exceeded, and cost price is in line with the targeted price. Prior to the introduction of the product a team consisting of Product Management, Marketing Management and Marketing Communication, prepares all required information for the trade and the consumer, such as sales staff training, catalogue sheets and detailed product information.
The cardboards below look like shelf clips that were used to promote a certain title in the big rack of CD's in a retail store:
The CD-i player was positioned as a very versatile product: you could play your Audio CD's, you could show your photo's, you could play games, you could watch movies. All kinds of interactive applications both for the consumer as for the professional market were developed. The consumer was confronted with a hardware problem too: the CD-i player has to be hooked up to both the TV set as to the audio installation. In most of the cases the TV and the audio stack were not put in the same place in the living room. This caused an inconvenience. The main problem however was that the consumer could not understand why he should buy a CD-i player as it offered a multitude of functionalities for which he was not looking. Marketing such a product appeared to be very complex as consumers apparently were not interested in a such a product.
A dedicated product (a CD player, a Photo CD player, a games machine): that was understood, but a CD-i player with all its possibilities? Interactivity: what is that? Interactivity was only understood by gamers, but not by "Tom, Dick and Harry", who just wanted to listen to their CD's or look at photo's at the most. The rate at which interactive applications were developed and introduced compared to the acceptance of the system by the public was not in pace: too much emphasis on hardware and not enough grip on the software. Marketing communications did not succeed in bringing the message across. At a certain moment the software industry lost the belief in CD-i and put more effort in games and CD-ROM's. In hindsight: the beginning of the fall of CD-i was the fact that the consumer did not understand "interactivity". MarCom did not succeed in bringing the message across. And then the software industry lost their belief. Exit CD-i.
Interactive CD was a brilliant idea, but it simply was a product that rather confused the consumer than offering a solution. Yes: it offered solutions, but not the ones the consumers were waiting for. If CD-i would have been developed as a fully-fledged games machine, I personally doubt if it would have been anymore successful. At that time our IMS (Interactive Media Systems) organisation had no experience at all in games. Yes, there were games, but as I stated in an earlier interview: no interest in the design and development of real games related devices. To introduce a successful games platform one needs a dedicated organisation with staff that is hooked up to games. You should understand gamers to be able to make games.
At least the journey left us with some previously unknown CD-i stuff like we've seen here. Many thanks to Steep Haywire and Peer Custers for sharing this with us!
[Thanks, Steep Haywire, Peer Custers]