[relyks]

They may need to have better marketing, like have an ad that mentions it in the app. I didn't know that Spectacles are selling on Amazon now and I don't believe many people know either. I think most assume that they're still being sold at those exclusive kiosks.

[dmix]

I also went to the website https://www.spectacles.com and I had no idea what they were until I googled other news articles about it.

- Extremely vague besides "push a button to record video".

- No mention of battery power, length of charge, app integration, quality of video, etc, etc.

- It seems to be only targeted at women? There's no pictures of men wearing them.

- What do the sides of the glasses look like? All pictures are the front angle. Does it look bulkier because it has a camera?

- I see a prominent "Find a Snapbot" button, I had no idea "Snapbot" meant pop-up store until I read about it in a news article.

I could go on...

The pictures are visually appealing but having zero sales copy was a terrible idea. How can you sell something without explaining it?

I too would have liked to see an Amazon link, I prefer using that over a custom online shop every time. And Amazon forces them to write an actual description about what the product does.

[ben174]

I think the mysteriousness is part of the marketing. Makes them seem more obscure and thus desirable to some.

[JavaOffScript]

That's part of snapchat's brand, they make all their shit unintuitive, obscure, hard to discover and use. It's supposed to make it so that you feel hip and in the know when you finally discover how to make that mustache appear on your face or make text float in the background of your video.

But of course that doesn't seem to transfer that well to selling hardware.

[thinbeige]

> they make all their shit unintuitive

Why so aggressive?

There is a clear reasoning for this strategy. People and especially press talk more about the product.

Btw, I think Snapchat is quite intuitive. Some features might not be easy to find or to know about. But once you know it is very intuitive and fast to use them. I think it is similar to Vim, if you don't know anything about Vim you cannot even quit Vim but once you know all the stuff Vim is one of the most intuitive editors because UI and most commands are well designed.

[tigershark]

You are clearly using a different definition of intuitive from anyone else. VIM is the least intuitive editor that I know. Even you are saying that people don't even know how to quit it, how in the world is that intuitive??? If you need to know all the stuff to use it that is by definition not intuitive. "adjective: intuitive using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive. (chiefly of computer software) easy to use and understand."

[spittet]

I think you are referring to stickiness - which doesn't infer that the product is intuitive.

If you can't use a product right away without help then it is not intuitive by definition. However it doesn't mean you won't like it if taught how to extract value.

For instance it's not intuitive to deep fry a banana and then put salt on it before eating it, but I'm quite certain you will finish the plate once you try it.

[erdle]

Which makes you wonder what they know about marketing in general... especially since they are a camera company where the primary source of revenue is from advertising.

They literally go around Cannes and Madison Ave telling everyone they understand the future of marketing... but can't market their own product.

Speaks volumes.

[tinfoilboy]

Funny that you mention "an ad in the app," They're running a Spectacles story right now in the app.

Also, sometimes when watching other people's stories, I see Spectacles ads. Though, the Spectacles story might be tucked away by like, the Daily Mail and the other sponsored stories.

[relyks]

That's actually pretty funny. I didn't even know that was there until you mentioned it and I went looking. Like you said, the story is pretty "tucked away" :D

[hsod]

I wonder if one of the problems is that the Spectacles by nature are never in the images they capture. Thus missing out on some powerful organic marketing.