Comment by Michael B. Moore on September 28, 2011 at 1:33pm

Here's a new commercial from Amazon for their new Kindle Fire. Without diving into the technology too deeply, a color screen, some processing power, and a browser now firmly position this Kindle into the tablet category. The Fire will compete with the Apple iPad, as well as the other tablets that play in this growing space.

Amazon is, no doubt, one of the stronger Internet brands. With the Fire, they apply that equity - with the Kindle sub brand - even deeper into hardware and the seemingly quite valuable tablet/mobile computing category. As a marketer, this presents some interesting challenges - the most pressing being, can they pull off the shift into this high stakes realm?  Can they leverage their considerable equity in online retailing into this new hardware and technology driven category?

With that as a bit of context, let's focus on the advertising. While rather simple, it's generally a very attractive spot; the quality of the production - as one would expect - is superlative. But is it a compelling piece of consumer communication? Will it "move" consumers to buy? Does it build the Amazon brand? Therein lies the rub.

This ad seems to be targeted almost solely to current Kindle users rather than to potential tablet buyers broadly. It seems to want to build on awareness of the Kindle name - which, obviously, is more relevant to existing users. The ad seems to be metaphorically comparing the development of the Kindle to  the growth of printed communication - starting with the pen and moving to the printing press. The climax of the ad shows the new Kindle with its vibrant colors and video - in a very compact, handheld footprint.

The problem is that all of this has been seen before. And not only that, but by brands that have significantly greater equity in computing, design, user interfaces, mobile devices, brilliant screens etc. . . . namely Apple. Beyond that, its tough for any brand, any where, to beat Apple in the all important “cool factor”. As hip as Amazon is, it can’t credibly compete with Apple - particularly in hardware.

I guess the thinking is that if a Kindle user hasn't already bought an iPad, then perhaps their affinity to the brand can get them to consider this new model. It's an interesting strategic play. Pretty much ignore the world of consumers buying and using tablets today and just speak to their most loyal consumers. One could make the argument that the tablet marketplace, although dominated by the iPad, is fairly wide open at this point and so why not throw the Fire more aggressively into that much larger ring?  One could also ask, is coming out with a Kindle tablet devoid of any significant new "bells and whistles" going to be enough to get existing users to trade up?

I wonder about the strategic decision to focus on the name in the ad. It even seems to be the 'Big Creative Idea'. If so, is that really strong enough to move consumers to buy? The copy around the name came off as rather convoluted and unclear to me. And, although cool and attractive, the shots of the device didn't show anything new or even really interesting to people who have paid any attention to the tablet market. I have an iPad. There are three Kindles in my house. There was nothing in this spot that even remotely made me lust or even yearn for the new Kindle. If I’m Amazon - that’s a problem. Why will people buy this?

To both grab greater attention from existing Kindle users and gain consideration of new users, Amazon will have to refine its communication strategy a bit. Who knows, maybe the strongest part of the value proposition is the price? At $199, perhaps the price offers the most compelling package of performance features and benefits out there. If so, then they'll have to hit that point much harder. Frankly, if there's nothing any more compelling to talk about, then its hard to envision how the Kindle Fire can be anything more than a middle of the pack follower in this category. Either way, stronger advertising with more precise - and dramatically communicated -  drivers is the key!

Two stars for unclear strategy but solid execution.

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