Microrobotic fly

Midterm- Microrobotic Fly

The Microrobotic fly, is a future product that weighs approximately 60 mg, and has enough strength to lift its own weight, and be able to fly. It is being designed for search and rescue missions. Everyday millions of fire fighters and rescue squads risk their lives and their state of health, in order to save people who are in danger. Let’s say that a tornado blows through town and buildings collapse and there are many people trapped beneath the rubble. However, there is no way the rescuers could reach them, because the openings in the rubble are too small to get through. This is where these microrobotic flies come in handy. They are so tiny that they would be able to fly into the crevices the rescuers can’t. Sending millions of them at once means there’s more of a chance for survivors to be detected by using the flies thermal acoustic detection and carbon dioxide signature of a survivor. These itty bitty robots will be able to sense the carbon dioxide released by a survivor or even the survivor’s warm breath. This detection enables the rescuers to know exactly where and how many survivors there are. It also gives them a good idea of where they should start digging in a place that would not endanger other people trapped in the rubble. When deciding what techniques I should use in order to think how to advertise this product, I had to first figure out who I was trying to sell this product too. This is not a type of product that would be bought and sold by regular families, but instead be sold to the government.

One technique that would be beneficial when advertising the microrobotic fly would be narrowcasting. Narrowcasting is when a product is advertised and creates their message to a certain group of people. In the microrobotic fly’s case it’s the government. When using narrowcasting, one would be able to make customized messages that are easily understood by the government. The advertisement of the microrobotic fly would be able to show qualities and opinion that are possessed by the government. The advertisers could stress to the government how important and necessary it is for their country. Also the microrobotic fly is a pretty cheap invention since the flying robots are so small. The government would be able to purchase millions without having a huge problem with money spending. With the use of narrowcasting, the necessity of this product would be made so distinct and clear, because it is only being advertised to a particular type of group, the government. This will make the advertisement of the microrobotic fly so strong that it would be hard for the government to refuse the pitch.

Another technique would be emotional branding. Emotional branding requires an emotional tie to the product that makes the people the product being advertised to, become irrational and feel a strong need for the product. This need is created by the advertisers and is their main goal in emotional marketing. The main way to make the government emotionally attached to this product is to show the benefits of its purpose. The microrobotic fly is meant to save lives. Now these lives could very well be one of the members of the governments’ very own loved ones. Getting the people whom they individually care about the most involved in this advertising campaign, will make them stop thinking about the money purchasing, but start thinking about one of their loved ones in a dangerous situation, where the only way they could be saved is by the help and detection of this itty bitty robot. One could also tie in previous major disasters such as September 11th and Hurricane Katrina. Make them imagine all the innocent people and rescuers stuck underneath the rubble of a skyscraper, or a regular home, and imagine how many more lives could have been saved if they had a device that could fly on its own, and where it is so small that it could fit in spots no man or animal could. Imagine that device finding more innocent survivors and alerting rescuers where they are. How could they refuse the idea of saving more lives from future disasters?

Product placement across media is another technique that I personally feel will work well with advertising the microrobotic fly. Product placement across media is a promotional tactic where a real commercial product is used in fictional or non-fictional media in order to increase its popularity, and make it known to consumers. One way it can be used is having action movies that have a rescue scene use these microrobotic flies, or even just have an animation graphic of it in the movie being used instead of the real thing, to show the viewers what the microrobotic fly is and its purpose. It can even be used on television action shows as well. This will create more awareness of the product around the country and world. It would also cause a greater stress and pressure on the government in order to use this innovatory idea. By generating more awareness of the product and what it does, it only increases the emotional branding of the product by seeing in the movie and television show survivors actually being saved, when early there was a chance they wouldn’t be, until the microrobotic flies came along. The viewers would actually be able to see them in action.

As you can tell this future product is an amazing and revolutionary idea that has many benefits. One benefit would be saving survivors that no rescuer or animal could find or get too. Another benefit is that it is cost-effective because they are so little, and not so difficult to make when the people at the Harvard Microrobotics laboratory work out the kinks. These could have a major effect on the survival rate of natural disasters, and could very well change the world. The three types of techniques, narrowcasting, emotional branding, and product placement across media, are the three best ways to get the message across and truly advertise the microrobotic fly’s capabilities and its positively astounding results. The microrobotic fly is on its way to bettering the world, and it’s smaller than a penny. Who knew?