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Old 04-23-2009, 05:00 PM   #11
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OK, this is a LONG term plan and would take careful management, but I think it's the type of thing Segway Inc. should have been doing from the start.

Go down to your local skateboard park. Find a kid, maybe an attractive female, but in any case one with obvious riding skills. Hire the kid to work in your store. GIVE the kid a Segway and let the kid figure out interesting things to do with it. It will take time. Allow the kid to have free reign in their use of it other than pissing off your local business neighbors. Encourage the kid to figure out tricks that can be done on it. Give the kid a video camera and encourage the kid to post to YouTube.

YOU, the boss, have ZERO say in the kid's postings. Just let the kid be cool.

The "careful management" I talked about earlier would entail you finding the right kid to begin with and then trusting the kid while restraining yourself.
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Old 04-23-2009, 05:31 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by quade View Post
OK, this is a LONG term plan and would take careful management, but I think it's the type of thing Segway Inc. should have been doing from the start.

Go down to your local skateboard park. Find a kid, maybe an attractive female, but in any case one with obvious riding skills. Hire the kid to work in your store. GIVE the kid a Segway and let the kid figure out interesting things to do with it. It will take time. Allow the kid to have free reign in their use of it other than pissing off your local business neighbors. Encourage the kid to figure out tricks that can be done on it. Give the kid a video camera and encourage the kid to post to YouTube.

YOU, the boss, have ZERO say in the kid's postings. Just let the kid be cool.


The "careful management" I talked about earlier would entail you finding the right kid to begin with and then trusting the kid while restraining yourself.

While entrusting your future success with segways to a kid from the skatepark may work for some, others may choose to take responsibility for their future themselves...

I believe that this may work for a national campaign, like something from Inc., but a local dealer may not benefit from this as much as the segway community, as a whole, if it works.

Further, I have found thru life, that if you give a person something, they are far less likely to appreciate it, or value it. Because of this, this plan may have far more risk than benefit to a local dealer.

I do see some value is trying to make segways seem more cool, or more fashionable, or more exciting, and to make those images more available via U-tube and the like. That is a good idea. A dealer just needs to be careful how this is done to avoid a potential backlash...
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Old 04-23-2009, 05:37 PM   #13
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Obviously it's not the only thing he can do, so I don't think he'd be entrusting his future success on this and this alone. In fact, that would be a horrible idea.

It does seem to me that it should be part of an overall strategy though, at least by someone.

I don't think the Segway Inc. lawyers would let Segway Inc's marketing department do something like this though. Inc. seems bent on making the device seem as safe as possible; almost to the point of being boring. I understand that to a certain extent, but I think they've gone overboard.
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Old 04-23-2009, 05:59 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by quade View Post
OK, this is a LONG term plan and would take careful management, but I think it's the type of thing Segway Inc. should have been doing from the start.

Go down to your local skateboard park. Find a kid, maybe an attractive female, but in any case one with obvious riding skills. Hire the kid to work in your store. GIVE the kid a Segway and let the kid figure out interesting things to do with it. It will take time. Allow the kid to have free reign in their use of it other than pissing off your local business neighbors. Encourage the kid to figure out tricks that can be done on it. Give the kid a video camera and encourage the kid to post to YouTube.

YOU, the boss, have ZERO say in the kid's postings. Just let the kid be cool.

The "careful management" I talked about earlier would entail you finding the right kid to begin with and then trusting the kid while restraining yourself.
And with slightly-less-than-perfect precognition, and "ZERO say" in the postings, you have implemented the "Oh cr@p, she face-planted! -- on video" scenario.

Anybody remember a certain scene in a mall with four girls? I don't THINK I'm the only one who's seen it...

Also, in our litigious society, since you provided the Segway and encouraged pushing the limits, I see herds (swarms?) of ambulance-chasers in your future, representing her and her parents.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Segway, Inc didn't really want that to be their marketing strategy.


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Old 04-23-2009, 06:19 PM   #15
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And with the attitude that you can't ever show anything "interesting" being done with the Segway out of fear it will be used against you . . . you can NEVER capture the youth market.
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Old 04-23-2009, 07:10 PM   #16
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Quote:
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And with the attitude that you can't ever show anything "interesting" being done with the Segway out of fear it will be used against you . . . you can NEVER capture the youth market.
Capturing the youth market may be desireable.

Being sued out of existance is not!!! Under the scenario you presented, it would be hard for even an incompetent attorney to lose a suit against you. You provided the means (the Segway), and you encouraged the behavior.

Quote:
Hire the kid to work in your store. GIVE the kid a Segway... Encourage the kid to figure out tricks that can be done on it.
If she is a minor and your employee, any attorney (of the ambulance-chasing variety) would insist that she was highly pressured to perform these "tricks" that are not in accordance with the equipment's manuals. That any injuries suffered were a direct result of following your guidance. That you are a cruel and inhumane scoundrel that must be penalized to the maximum extent of the law (or at least all your worldly posessions for the next 25 years).

In all likelyhood your insurance company's lawyers will also decide that this is outside the bounds of their coverage, as it is not recommended riding.

I agree, it is a shame to have to be cautious of things like that, but your scenario has just too much liability to be feasible.


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Old 04-23-2009, 09:12 PM   #17
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A device that is dedicated to the idea of thinking out of the box . . . that can't be taken out of a pigeon hole.
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Old 04-23-2009, 09:24 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by quade View Post
And with the attitude that you can't ever show anything "interesting" being done with the Segway out of fear it will be used against you . . . you can NEVER capture the youth market.
Even the operators of this site are afraid of stuff like this. When the wheel-reverse bug recall went out, mods deleted any posting that discussed how to reproduce the problem.
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Old 04-25-2009, 08:31 AM   #19
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As a tour operator and of course a "Pro-Segway Advocate", I think quade's plan is a little too risky. That being said, he is completely right! Without a younger generation making these "pigeon holed" machines cool, they will never thrive in future years.

I think instead of shutting down creative ideas like quade's we should embrace it, explain our concerns, work with this creativity and figure out a way to accomplish the common goal, while still staying with in our legal concerns.

Moving Forward Rentals actually has a younger campaign currently in use. We offer a Segway Kids Club Night (ages 9 and up) twice a week at our storefront in Sea Isle City. During these nights we play several games while atop the amazing Segway with the chance to win a Moving Forward Rentals Prize at the end of their session. Kids absolutely love it!!! All the while, anticipating the day then can take one of our tours (NJ law 16 or older in public). This is our attempt to change the stigma for the younger generation.



Quade, is there a way to take in the concerns of business owners, that have much to lose, during a long term experiment? Keep that train of thought flowing...
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Old 04-25-2009, 02:18 PM   #20
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OK, I'm looking at a photo of 4 kids playing what looks like some form of indoor Segway SOCCER. I think that's a great start. My apologies to some, but polo is something outside of most people's mindset, soccer, on the other hand, is something kids have grown up with and actually may know something about.

I think that's great. If mom & dad take video and post to YouTube . . . well . . . you're half way to my basic idea already.

You mention something about NJ law and being 16 or older. Would that also apply to a park with a grass field?

Looks like you have at least a couple of cones; what kind of race course can you set up? Kids can't race cars at this age, but I can't imagine them not wanting to race the Segways. Of course, if you're confined indoors and unless you have a large area, there is only so much of a race you can do. Also, it's bound to happen that kids are going to bump into things and fall off. I think going out to a grassy park might help there as well.

Outdoors in a park serves a couple of other purposes as well, it's a huge kinetic billboard for business and it also shows that it's not JUST about not walking from point A to point B.
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