I made it through an entire day without hearing 'Shield' so there is hope!

[kris7047th]

The launch of the Shield will probably be a case study in college Marketing programs of how to properly launch a product:
- Use the internet to generate some buzz a few weeks in advance - not months in advance
- Use NDAs to get holster and accessory makers going and get inventory ready before launch
- Build up a significant inventory of the product and have them on dealers shelves on announcement day
- Ship significant numbers of product on announcement day, and have enough inventory to supply the early market demand
- The product had better be good. Do what you say it will do and be utterly reliable
- Bring out a product that you key competition does not have. I consider the key competition to be Glock and Springfield, not Ruger. Think "proven polymer handgun family with LE/Military/Civilian sales, full size, compact, and competition models"

Smith did all of this, and did it well. For an example of a less impressive launch, see the Springfield XDS. Hyped like crazy, unveiled at SHOT, magazine reviews, and still not shipping with no announced ship date.

Tommato

Wanna bet Springfield is kicking the marketing management in their butts? S&W broke out with a different marketing strategy and they nailed it. Watch for other makers to follow up with their new entries doing the same as S&W.

 

[PuertoRican]

The Shield may be the best thing since sliced bread. If I wanna single stack 9mm, I'll get another 39-2.

 

[OutOfRange]

The launch of the Shield will probably be a case study in college Marketing programs of how to properly launch a product...

Tommato

This strategy is basically the game Apple has been playing pretty much forever. S&W has done an outstanding job but in many ways the surprise is that it's taken the firearms industry this long to understand and adopt these techniques. It will be interesting to see how S&W's competitors react - my guess is that there will be a certain amount of denial and a certain amount of ambivalent imitation - and what S&W does for an encore.

 

[C&R Bill]

How did you "shield" yourself from it??

Sorry......