Bono, a Marketing Genius
First Steve Jobs and a U2 branded iPod loaded with the U2 collection. Now iLike and Amazon.com.
This time burning hot iLike (Bono is an investor through Elevation Partners) gets to present U2’s product to hundreds of thousands of listeners / watchers before it’s available. U2’s new Wave of Sorrow isn’t on the radio. It’s on the web — all over the web (even here below at bradbaldwin.com). iLike is encouraging and collecting prospect feedback to back to U2. This effort is in conjunction with the release of a DVD / Audio released of Joshua Tree at the end of November. And as they’ve done for thousands of authors — like J.K. Rowling with her Potter series, Amazon has a presale to gauge demand and reward the rabid fan with just in time product delivery.
Bono gets marketing and sales. He gets buzz. He gets matching his product to the distribution channel. He gets that his target market will appreciate his commentary to introduce the meaning of his lyric. He knows that he can drive massive awareness for causes where the West can share wealth with those less fortunate (in this case Ethiopia).
Very smart marketing and sales. A new model for the future of music and video sales.