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Great Poll by Revell


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Nice idea by Revell and well intentioned, but how the "mighty" PZL I-22 Somethingorother (an aircraft that never really got out of prototype phase) can be leading with 3,300+ votes is beyond me. There must be some Polish dude in front of his computer 24/7 hitting the vote button constantly.

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i can't wait to see if they'll do the

PZL I-22 Iryda that have 3343 votes! an uninspiring and obsure trainer(not to mention that it's kind of ugly potato-carved alphajet like) that was build in 17 units, and served 4 years! everyone must wanted it in its collection!...but me...

Edited by mingwin
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my personnal choice only come in something like the 120th rank, with 706 votes... and it's the 1/48 Su-34 fullback

Same! That and the PAK-FA in 1/48. I also started the 1/32 Mirage 2000 idea...languishing way down the line with a measly 206 votes...:(

Edited by Crazy Snap Captain
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Is Revell looking to retool or reissue kits? or both?

Neither. It's a marketing ploy to drive web traffic and make their customers feel more 'invested' in the brand through 'social media' outreach. Successful, though - I've lost track of how many times I've seen it brought up on various message boards, with everyone invariably praising Revell for listening to modellers, and excitedly talking about the all the wonderful new releases they must surely been working on.

It has *nothing* to do with any actual decisions the corporate heads will ever make, though. Which means it will be interesting to see if there's any blowback, from people who thought it was 'official' and are disappointed when some highly-voted subject never gets made.

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Neither. It's a marketing ploy to drive web traffic and make their customers feel more 'invested' in the brand through 'social media' outreach. Successful, though - I've lost track of how many times I've seen it brought up on various message boards, with everyone invariably praising Revell for listening to modellers, and excitedly talking about the all the wonderful new releases they must surely been working on.

It has *nothing* to do with any actual decisions the corporate heads will ever make, though. Which means it will be interesting to see if there's any blowback, from people who thought it was 'official' and are disappointed when some highly-voted subject never gets made.

Just curious, you know this how?

It's true that many of these list go on without any action. But how often has an actual main-line company started this kind of wish list? Usually it's modeling mags or forums etc... Perhaps you're right and it's nothing but a marketing "ploy". But why would a company start such an endeavor when they know if they don't at least appear to act on it then it could blow up in their face? If that's the case they need to fire their PR person, cause it's pretty poor business practice.

I'd like to remain optimistic that a company from the U.S. will once again strive to keep up or surpass what other companies are doing. Perhaps they could turn around the hobby again. Ya just never know.

Bill

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The problem of such voting is that does not reflect the reality of individual intentions, once anyone can vote multiple times on the same suggestion more than once per day.

Some of the top rated themes are far from a general preference, it seems that there are many organized groups doing mass voting to certain suggestions, while some very interesting ones are low on the list.

Edited by FCM
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my personnal choice only come in something like the 120th rank, with 706 votes... and it's the 1/48 Su-34 fullback

I voted on that since it has been on my wish list for years. I have the Italeri version to keep me interested but my heart is really not in it in 1/72.

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Just curious, you know this how?

Short answer: it's what I'm paid to do.

Brand engagement, market segmentation (narrowcasting) and social media are popular marketing trends at the moment. It makes customers feel that they are individuals and important, not just a part of the herd. In this case specifically, the theory is customers will feel that Revell understands and cares about their *specific* interests, even though it's the individual customer who posted it on their website in the first place. This creates good will towards the company, and primes the customer to be more receptive to their marketing materials, and more willing to buy their goods. It's also a viral marketing strategy: as the existence of this thread itself shows, modellers are sharing links to polls themselves; Revell don't have to pay a cent to get the exposure. In the mean time, they can use standard analytics through their website to track what each visitor clicks on, how long they look at something, where else they go on the website, where they're redirected from, etc. to observe demographic patterns and hone their marketing message. It also lets modellers segment themselves for Revell - car modellers will share links to car polls. Sci-fi modellers will share links to sci-fi polls.

Backfiring? That's the big risk. But I suspect there are a bunch of things negating the risk. 1.) whoever devised the strategy is just planning on using its success to pad their resume and move on before it has a chance to blow up (that's just standard corporate culture - I'd rather make my bonus this year than ensure we don't go bankrupt next year) 2.) It would take a few years before any actual results could come from the poll in the first place - nobody would expect to see a new tool kit a month after it was posted in the wish list - which gives them the chance to quietly phase it out and hope everyone forgets. This year's releases are probably set. Next year's too. So you've got two years to roll out the poll, exploit it and bin it before the customers even begin to anticipate any results. A simple platitude of "we thank everyone for their input and will give every suggestion great consideration in the future" will leave participants optimistic and buy even more wiggle room, until everyone forgets. 3.) Because anyone can suggest anything, everyone is suggesting everything. That means there's a *really* good chance someone will just happen to suggest something they already have in development just by coincidence (I notice, for instance, a couple of Ferraris on the list which are likely to be released). Or something close enough to what has already been suggested that they can sell it as derived from the survey (Revell: 'we know you wanted a new-tool 1/72 B-1B, but here's a re-release of the old kit that we've been planning to issue for the past five years' Customer: 'wow, they TOTALLY listened to my suggestion! Revell are fantastic!') That serendipitous overlap will reinforce in the customer that the business truly cares about their customers' unique tastes, and that if you can only garner enough support from your fellow modellers, you too can have the esoteric subject of your dreams made real. Which, you'll notice, does a nifty little Judo flip - it's not Revell's fault they're not tooling the kit you want; it's your fellow modellers' fault for not wanting it enough.

But how often has an actual main-line company started this kind of wish list?

Really, really frequently. It's been done for a long time, in many, many industries. This is the first of this *kind* of implementation for a scale model manufacturer that I can think of, but it's not new. And, for that matter, every model company has had a 'suggestions' link since the rise of the internet.

I'd like to remain optimistic that a company from the U.S. will once again strive to keep up or surpass what other companies are doing.

Ummm.... Revell Germany isn't from the US.

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Neither. It's a marketing ploy to drive web traffic and make their customers feel more 'invested' in the brand through 'social media' outreach. Successful, though - I've lost track of how many times I've seen it brought up on various message boards, with everyone invariably praising Revell for listening to modellers, and excitedly talking about the all the wonderful new releases they must surely been working on.

It has *nothing* to do with any actual decisions the corporate heads will ever make, though. Which means it will be interesting to see if there's any blowback, from people who thought it was 'official' and are disappointed when some highly-voted subject never gets made.

That's what Revell is explaining on it's HP as well, and modelers must accept this. If someone thinks it's easy to run a modeling company by answering every request he/she should stand up a company of it's own. I know some people from the company and believe it or not, the Company has quite a hard time to survive in today's times when kids rather play video games or watch TV. They better make some sound decisions of modelers will complain that REVELL has vanished.

Well from this voting, it seems 1/48 modern jets do not have that much of a chance :(/> Highest one is Su-34 I believe...

The main market for them is Europe and more so Great Britain. Over here 1/72 scale is way more popular than quarter scale.

It's the same with US decal makers producing 48 scale sheets and due to business reasons will not accept producing 72 scale sheets. People have to start accepting that the companies do not solely exist to satisfy customers but also they have to compete and survive in a global market.

I am rather happy that they do that poll and hope someday something I wanted will come out of it, than just complaining it might no be worth voting.

Regards

Scout ( confessing 72 scale modeler)

P.S. and If you don't mind you can vote for the East German Air Force Ground support equipment and Pilot and Ground crew request... :whistle:

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Neither. It's a marketing ploy to drive web traffic and make their customers feel more 'invested' in the brand through 'social media' outreach. Successful, though - I've lost track of how many times I've seen it brought up on various message boards, with everyone invariably praising Revell for listening to modellers, and excitedly talking about the all the wonderful new releases they must surely been working on.

It has *nothing* to do with any actual decisions the corporate heads will ever make, though. Which means it will be interesting to see if there's any blowback, from people who thought it was 'official' and are disappointed when some highly-voted subject never gets made.

If this is true; Revell and RoG just lost my business for eternity.

If you're going 'F' with me, at least send me flowers afterwords................

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What modelers say they want, and what they actually buy are two totally different and (seemingly) utterly unrelated things. Despite it being at the very top of the FSM most wanted list for many years, Ed Sexton told me that the 1/48 PBY was the single worst selling kit they'd ever done. Ditto the 1/48 RA-5C (which might have sold better if Trumpeter hadn't screwed it up so bad).

A 1/72 B-32? Not a chance in hell.

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