The announcement of new releases.

[birdseyecircus]

As reported else were on here Bachmann are releasing City of Turo before Christmas.

What do people think about this? Is it best to announce a new model a week or two before it hits the stores (or in this case NRM)

Or is it better to announce it beginning of the year then get everyone frothing when it appears several months after it's suppose to?

I can see the point in saving up for a pre announced model, but i think i prefer the surprise announcements.

 

 

Paul

[The Fatadder]

As reported else were on here Bachmann are releasing City of Turo before Christmas.

What do people think about this? Is it best to announce a new model a week or two before it hits the stores (or in this case NRM)

Or is it better to announce it beginning of the year then get everyone frothing when it appears several months after it's suppose to?

I can see the point in saving up for a pre announced model, but i think i prefer the surprise announcements.

 

 

Paul

 

Personally I much prefer the announcement 12 months before release, I like to be able to budget for new releases in advance, particularly when you want an item (like city of Truro) which will likely sell out rapidly and is a surprise announcement just before christmas when finances can be tight.

[exet1095]

I must say that I think a fortnight is about right. Otherwise one waits so long that modelling inertia sets in. Will Hornby "do" GWR coaches..? When (if) they are announced, will they make my own efforts look dreadful? (yes) Meanwhile, that's nearly two years of waiting, rather than Cometing, cutting, shutting and even Blacksmithing.

 

Still, that's just me.

 

Cheers,

 

Paul

[MarkSG]

I think the best time to announce a forthcoming model is when you've decided to do it. Then give updates as it goes through development and production, and finally announce it as a new product when it's ready to be shipped. I think Dapol have pretty much got it right in this respect. Keeping it under wraps until it's about to hit the shelves, as Bachmann did with City of Truro, seems a bit pointless - why make it a secret? And Hornby's method of bundling all the news into one mega-announcement at Christmas/New Year strikes me as being particularly daft.

 

Mark

[Karhedron]

And Hornby's method of bundling all the news into one mega-announcement at Christmas/New Year strikes me as being particularly daft.

Give them Hornby some credit, have you seen the thread about their 2010 release announcement? 20 pages of posts before a single piece of solid info actually came out!

 

They certainly know how to whip up some interest in their products.

[298]

I think the best time to announce a forthcoming model is when you've decided to do it. Then give updates as it goes through development and production, and finally announce it as a new product when it's ready to be shipped. I think Dapol have pretty much got it right in this respect. Keeping it under wraps until it's about to hit the shelves, as Bachmann did with City of Truro, seems a bit pointless - why make it a secret? And Hornby's method of bundling all the news into one mega-announcement at Christmas/New Year strikes me as being particularly daft.

 

Mark

 

Not quite, Hornby announced the DVT at the DEMU show and Dapol usually have a few surprises at the N gauge Exhibiton, which I think are good ways to retain credibility with your potential market and can be a reward / free publicity for all involved.

 

If there are three possible stages at which a model can be announced..:

 

1. A "we are going to do a...",

 

2. Here is the mock-up, and

 

3. Model X is now on the boat, and will be in the shops on XX.....,

 

the issues I can see are manufacturers putting a name to something that might have figured on a recent wish list, then keeping us waiting for up to 5 years for production models to arrive or even cancelling. But then they could try to keep things under wraps until a mock up is available, with the risk someone else may also have invested alot of money and be further ahead or a lack of research throwing up alot of negative comments about the shape when it might be too late to change. Then there is the Bachmann CoT, that was one of the worst kept secrets but managed to be announced and released to the market in a little over a week....! Bachmann (US) do seem to be doing OK with the policy of not announcing models until they are well advanced.

 

Even assuming manufacturers don't directly talk to each other about what they are working on, the rumour mill in this country won't keep anything under wraps, for example it'd be difficult for a manufacturer to cover an early AC electric without me knowing about it at an early stage....

[Neal Ball]

I would rather see a regular schedule, whereby we wait for the catalogue / press release with anticipation. - Means we can plan our spending a bit better!

 

From a marketing point of view it seems very strange to launch COT at a moments notice.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

While that might normally be true, if it is an item for which it is believed strong demand (both expressed and latent) exists, then the 'Surprise!' style announcement is probably no hindrance to sales, and does create impact. Personally I would prefer a consistent announcement style, whether at inception of a project, or when the project is 'x' months from availability, or an annual programme with planned availability, just let us know in some reliable fashion; but then I am as a dull as ditchwater ENTJ type..

[edcayton]

ENTJ ?

[Anglian]

I'd prefer announcements through the year once a model has reached the undecorated product dummy stage. I'd prefer a maximum of about 6 months before it reaches the shops from first announcement.

[Oldddudders]

ENTJ ?

I think I'm ISTJ. This came as a huge shock to a number of railway engineers, taking the same Briggs-Myers (or is it Myers-Briggs?) test at the same time, who had always regarded me as something from another planet, and now had to recognise I was more similar to them than they thought..... One leading critic among them now manages a first rate annual exhibition at a very popular South Coast resort, as well as being a very capable modeller.

[Guest dilbert]

From a marketing point of view it seems very strange to launch COT at a moments notice.

 

I would think that the lads in Barwell are feeling quite pleased with the timing of the launch of CoT. Announced early December to the sound of accompanying trumpets, this will have done two things :

 

1) ensured that money was spent on CoT rather than on rival products, especially in the run up to Xmas

 

2) made sure that Bachmann was talked about and trying to dent the froth and spittle around the annual Hornby "embargo". I wonder what will be announced start Dec. 2010.

 

...dilbert

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

ENTJ ?

Myers Briggs profiling, a very popular blunt instrument favoured by some Human Remains departments to try and classify employees into neat personality types, with a view to fitting them up in appropriate roles. For ENTJ, think Star Trek's Vulcan characters or the android 'Data'.

 

Thus the 'just give me the facts in some reliable fashion' preference.

[edcayton]

Blimey! The things you learn on here! I obviously had a huge gap in my education. Thanks guys.

 

Ed

[dibber25]

The timing of the City of Truro launch had little to do with Bachmann. It is the National Railway Museum's model and they wanted the public announcement held back until they actually had stock in their shop. They wished to avoid the complications that they had with the Deltic which was announced before stock was available. The model press have known about CoT for many months but co-operated with the NRM to ensure that the launch went as smoothly as possible.

CHRIS LEIGH

[Neil]

Not really bothered if there are block announcements of the forthcoming years program of releases, though I think there's a lot to be said for one at a time disclosures as and when new models get to a stage where the manufacturer is confident enough to say "right chaps, Blue Pullman, nine months time". I have a hearty dislike of the secret list, leaked bit by bit with it's attendant futile, arguably hypocritical, attempts to keep the spread to those in the know. I don't think that there's any reason why mass announcements of a full years releases has to devolve into this pantomime; perhaps it's just that recently, slick marketing tactics have whipped up froth that ordinarily wouldn't be there.

[The Stationmaster]

Just think of all the fun we wouldn't have if we couldn't idly speculate about 'this year's Hornby etc releases' and then look suitably foolish on Christmas Day or whatever.

 

I really don't fancy the alternative of non-stop 'idle specualtion' on the basis that somebody might release something sometime. Let's just thank the manufacturers for still having faith in us their customers and aiming at trying to improve quality - if that's the way they're going they can play as many marketing games as they like as far as I'm concerned

[Ozexpatriate]

Not really bothered if there are block announcements of the forthcoming years program of releases, though I think there's a lot to be said for one at a time disclosures as and when new models get to a stage where the manufacturer is confident enough to say "right chaps, Blue Pullman, nine months time". I have a hearty dislike of the secret list, leaked bit by bit with it's attendant futile, arguably hypocritical, attempts to keep the spread to those in the know. I don't think that there's any reason why mass announcements of a full years releases has to devolve into this pantomime; perhaps it's just that recently, slick marketing tactics have whipped up froth that ordinarily wouldn't be there.

I think what has changed is the rapid pace of modern communications coupled with an increased ability to crank out new models.

 

Let's look back to say the 1980s or even the 1990s. At some point we would wander down to the local model shop and the latest Hornby catalogue would be out. We'd then know what was likely to be available that year. There was no sense of great rush and there weren't going to be a ton of new releases anyway.

 

Nothing has really changed in the development schedule. Hornby still produces an annual catalogue but with the web we can get all it's contents instantly and intravenously without having to wander down to the (probably nonexistent) local hobby shop. Before the catalogue is printed, they know what they will put in it and presumably the deadline for this is more or less the end of the year. The whole "froth over the embargoed list" phenomenon is related to trying to balance the "now" factor of modern communications with the "hold on and wait" requirements of print-based media.

 

Plus comparing the last ten years with the previous ten years, we have seen a huge increase in the number of new models available each year. This in addition to the desire to know, now, has the compounding affect of dialling up the level of interest/speculation/froth, call it what you will.

 

As long as we regard print-based media as relevant to the hobby - magazines, catalogues etc - then I think we will have this challenge with embargoed material.

[Dave777]

Myers Briggs profiling, a very popular blunt instrument favoured by some Human Remains departments to try and classify employees into neat personality types...

 

Not a fan then?

 

 

Personally I find the whole announcement thing a bit baffling. All this staying up until midnight to find out when you can look at your leisure the next morning - it's not as if a fleet of Hornby lorries leaves the factory at 12:01am to instantly distribute the new models to hobby shops across the land!

 

The only change I would like is more distinction between models we can expect this year and ones expected in the future. I know that Hornby and Bachmann do this differently (and that Hornby at least only announce stuff they are aiming to release in the next 12 months) but I'd like Bachmann to make it clearer just what is exactly 'this year' stuff and what are 'within the next 2 years' items... but this subject has been debated many times before.

 

Ozexpatriate's post above did make the mists of time swirl round me a bit - I can remember getting the latest Hornby, Lima and Mainline catalogues (and Peco... despite it being practically the same for year after year) in late January and February and looking through them once I got home to see what was new. It all seemed a much calmer process back then!