That’s right folks. Remember those laws that we passed back in 2007 that banned texting and driving? Well SkyMall took those laws to mean “we challenge you to find an even more distracting way to drive”. And SkyMall did it. Shocker.
The Passenger Seat Office is a light weight desk designed to strap into your car with your already existing seat belt. It includes a non-skid table top, file holder, and even an area to store a portable fax machine (provided you are still living in 1998). It’s priced at $130.00.
Product Benefits. This product finally finds a way to make sure that you are always, 100% of the time around your work—whether you love it or not. You have your work office, you have your home office, and now you have your car office. Wave goodbye to the mindless commute where you were guaranteed peace and quiet, and say hello to increasing profit margins and higher mortality rates.
Demographics. The only possible target
market for this product would be traveling businessmen who literally have absolutely nowhere to work in between their meetings. But even within this target market I don’t think we could create enough demand. So I thought a little bigger.
Instead of targeting a type of person, why don’t we target a type of company? Say…rental car companies–Like a Hertz, or an Avis? Car rental places often have business people who are coming in for a brief period of time just to meet with a couple of clients. They rent a car
for a couple of days, and then return to wherever their office is really located. Rental places could include an option for these business people to add the Passenger Seat Office for, let’s say, $20. Even though the product is priced much higher than that, these companies will want to buy them in bulk, which could lead to significant discounts.

26% of traveling business people are ages 45—54. 20% are ages 55—64. That means that almost 50% of our market is in the 50+ category, or the “baby boomers”. So the advertisements should be targeted
towards older business people who need an easy place to get some work done in between meetings when they’re on the go.
Channels. Since we are first talking to businesses, not people, I think the best plan of attack would be to partner with the car rental companies themselves. First let’s look at the kinds of places we would start in: New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angles, and Dallas. The types of cities where you’re sure to find traditional office settings. Then we would look at their airports, since 33% of domestic business trips include air travel. JFK, Logan International, O’Hare International, LAX, Dallas/Fortworth International. We would start with the more successful Car Rental places here, such as Hertz, Avis, and Enterprise. Provided we could come to an agreement about a contract, we could then work with these companies to advertise the Passenger Seat Office at their businesses and on their websites.
Since our target market consists of successful business people, we will market it as the kind of product that helps keep yourself organized and on track. We could play with taglines like: “Your client doesn’t stop moving, why should you?” or “Where efficient meets convenient” or “Dear God Please Make Sure you’re in Park”. Ideally, there will be a poster that showcases the product within the car rental places, as well as a section about it on their websites. This way people will see it as they’re renting a car, ask about it, and hopefully will be enticed to include it with their car rental.
Please note that we will have a disclaimer that begs our consumers to KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD WE PROMISE THE EMAIL ISN’T THAT IMPORTANT.
I’m all for finding ways to improve yourself in your work place. And I’m sure having a desk in your passenger seat may be good for something more than holding your taco bell while you’re going 95 down the New Jersey Turnpike. But is it the best idea SkyMall has ever had? Who can say. (Please note that I can say and it is not the best idea). Maybe one day I’ll think that a Passenger Seat Office is a really great idea. But today is not that day.
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