Wednesday, May 11, 2005

TiVo learns that it's all in the delivery

For Mother's Day, TiVo gave away free units to new moms at a local hospital. This could have been a brilliant move for TiVo. You know the family's going to be house-bound for awhile so you've got an ideal customer. Judging from comments at Lost Remote alone, it makes a popular giveaway. And most important, TiVo users so love the product that they usually convince two other people to buy their own.

There was just one glitch.

TiVo chose Parkland, an inner city hospital; "the company showed up with certificates printed only in English. Most of Parkland's maternity patients are fluent only in Spanish....the women also were confused. Maria Ramirez, a 26-year-old Mesquite woman, juggled her crying 2-day-old daughter as a Spanish translator explained that she was now a proud TiVo owner. 'Is it for babies?' Ms. Ramirez asked."

Oh well. A for concept. D for execution.

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