Friday, May 7, 2010

Effective-ish marketing

Last weekend a friend who runs told me about a special sale at a local sports store - spend $X, get a 'free' Ironman watch from which you can control your iPod.

I assume this is attractive because it's easier to use your wrist for resistance while pressing buttons than the palm of your hand, or maybe because it spares a runner the need to pull the iPod out of whatever pocket it's been tucked into and then get it back out again. Seriously, have you seen those shirts with the little iPod fold on the shoulder or the back waist?

Well, I myself am not really a runner, which is to say I haven't been able to run more than a block without panting since at least last summer and haven't been really in shape to do it for about 6 years. But I do use running shoes at the gym, and they do wear out, amazingly, even if you're not taking them through trails.

So since I'd gone along to the store with said friend anyway, I thought I might as well get a new pair of shoes myself.

And then the salesguy pointed out that I was pretty close to qualifying for a free watch of my own.

And then I found some pretty good-looking socks, so....


I was right: they're awesome socks. I should probably take up at least a little running again to really appreciate them, but we're looking at a cold and rainy weekend so... maybe I'll just play with the watch instead.

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