The other day I had an envelope the size of a telephone directory in my mail box. This was February's mailing from the Trix Profi club which is pretty much the same as the Bachmann or Hornby equivelant. Inside was a thick catalogue of new items for 2007, a smaller catalogue of some more specialised items and the two magazines which are mailed out quarterly which contain news and modeling how to and prototype info. However, there was an extra inclusion which was a DVD of new items for 2007. This included the special 50 years of TEE locos, coaches and train sets, the new special club models like the BR05 003 as well as many other goodies for release this year.
The film was quite good, flicking between the prototype and the model with some ok music in the background. The models were shown in a very good light and the film was obviously professionaly made. By the end I had been convinced that I had to buy everything on the DVD regardless of the fact I was only really interested in a couple of the models when I had checked out the catalogue. This is a very effective way of selling your product, especially to people round the world who would not be able to pop into a shop and see these items first hand.
I was wondering whether other manufacturers used this method of promoting their product?
Had anyone found themselves convinced by the film to buy models they otherwise wouldn't have bothered with?
Is this the best way of selling a product?
Would someone be more likely to buy a product after hearing and seeing it in action rather than on a two dimensional medium such as the inside back page of RM?
