The robots are coming! And now, thanks to the new Roomba Pet Edition, they’re ready to face off against your best friend.
Does “Pet Edition” mean it’s super-resistant to being bitten, pounced on, shaken violently, flung across the room, and then endlessly licked? This sounds like the makings of an amusing home video.
What I find particularly compelling about the Roomba is its ability to discreetly clean up dog food from the floor—a benefit depicted in ad photos of the self-powered vacuum in action (see above).
Fun fact: When you have a dog, spilled dog food does not stay on the floor.
Celery stalks, iceberg lettuce, and onion peels. These are just a few of the things that stay on the floor.
Also: slobbery tennis balls. And, later, 20 masticated pieces of a slobbery tennis ball.
Basically, the stuff a Roomba couldn’t pick up anyway.
Speaking as a member of their target audience, I will say this:
Picking up pet hair and dander is THE key benefit of a Pet Edition Roomba.
But you wouldn’t know it from the copy on the product’s landing page. It’s almost as if they’re embarrassed to use the words “pet hair and dander.”
Pet hair and dander. Definitely not the sexiest bullet point.
But I imagine anyone with pets who is dating an allergy-sufferer would find this benefit particularly compelling.
You could run an entire campaign aimed at single women with cats.
Think of the possibilities!
That’s assuming the cat or dog would tolerate a self-powered vacuum.
Before creating this ad, Roomba might have asked a dog owner whether it was a good idea to put an automatic, self-powered vacuum in the same living space as an automatic, self-powered, find-and-destroy dog. (Unless they’re trying to start a dogs-versus-robots movement? I can’t deny that part of me really wants to capture My Dogs vs. The Roomba Pet Edition on film!)
Daily Meditation: My copy and my product are not about me. They’re about my audience. When I am not at one with my audience, I ask them what they think. And I never try to break up a fight between a dog and a robot. The dog will always win.
Expeditions in progress:
Dig up more good stuff:
9 Comments
I have a wonderful mental image of Crazy Cat Lady from The Simpsons, outfitted with an army of cat-hair-collecting Roombas. Thanks Kelly!
I have a Roomba and love it. Izzy (my dog) not so much–he hides when it comes out. I can only imagine how much more he’d hate it if it also *ate his food*. (Though, I do have probably the world’s only Lab who won’t eat food off the floor if it’s the wrong kind of Canidae–the celery stalks, on the other hand, he gobbles down along with cucumber peels…)
I wonder, though, if the problem is that it doesn’t pick up pet hair and dander very effectively and after they got the whole thing together they decided to sell it anyway, so the best they could come up with was that it picks up spilled dog food. (Because it seems like if it picks up large stuff well, it might not also pick up the small stuff.)
Nathan, okay, that is a pretty wonderful image. I can totally see that in an episode. Ha!!!
Jessica, really? Your dog eats celery stalks!? The image of your dog chewing thoughtfully on a celery stick, making loud crunching sounds, cracks me up. So, since you are a proud owner of both a dog AND a Roomba, are you saying it DOESN’T pick up pet hair and dander? Or maybe you have one of those non-shedding dogs?
Do you really mean “discrete”? Or were you thinking “discreet”? Not trolling (honestly!), but I very much like your writing and came to you via the Parisoma site. I thought you were funny and great and should not be held hostage by the spelling auto-correct tool. Wishing you well!
Khritteroo, good catch! How did I miss that? Thanks so much–it’s fixed now. If only my 7th grade English teacher could see her former spelling bee star now… [hangs head in shame]
Okay, now I TOTALLY want to see “My Dogs vs. The Roomba Pet Edition”!
Hmmm. Maybe then I could borrow it from you and make the equivalent film about cats. I can just see it now . . . one of mine (the little one) would walk up to it unhesitatingly and start yelling at it. The other I’d have to unpeel from the ceiling, one claw at a time . . .
Michelle, oh, we are definitely going to need to see your “My Cats vs. The Roomba Pet Edition.” Since you have TWO cats, you’re basically doubling the entertainment pleasure! Excellent.
My cats were first scared of, and then intrigued by the Roomba. It was great for cleaning up the cat litter from the area around their box.
The best ever video of a pet and a Roomba has to be the Roomba Driver video on YouTube. It’s a kitty sitting on a Roomba and letting it drive him around. Totally awesome.
Togethah, we shall conquer the living room! Thanks–hadn’t seen this one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ-jv8g1YVI