Are The Rock And Magnum, P.I. Being Used To “Hack” The Product Iteration Cycle?

We’re seeing famous people being used to prop up and re-boot products customers have already said they don’t like.

Using celebrities in commercials is familiar territory. Buick had Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning introduce its re-tooled and re-styled SUV and sedan. Lincoln hired Matthew McConaughey to do the same for its new line of cars. Both companies used celebrities to get consumers to try new products from tired brands.

But in their new commercials, Apple and American Advisors Group (AAG) aren’t promoting new products or even enhancements or fixes to the old ones. They’re trying to convince people the same old products really are good after all by hitching the re-promotion to personalities they hope potential buyers will like and trust.

Watch Siri and The Rock team up for a 3.45 ad. This is an attempt to resurrect confidence in this feature that’s become well-known for not working so well by showing it being used “successfully” — albeit to tongue-in-cheek excess — by someone everybody seems to “Like.” This little film is actually a big, slick production. But there’s no mention anywhere about fixes and improvements to a product that’s been out there for a while, and which many users have found wanting.

See Tom Selleck lecture — really talk down to — seniors on reverse mortgages. This financial instrument has always been difficult to understand and a bit scary. This sponsor is trying to allay consumers’ fears by having their old friend from the Magnum, P.I. series tell them that, after doing the hard work of digging in and learning about it, he’s giving it his seal of approval. The pitch is based on the unspoken assertion that if you think you don’t like the product, it’s probably because you haven’t done your homework. Nothing is said about any new features to help manage the downsides, or fixes to any real problems with the complex product itself that’s been around for decades.

We want new products that actually solve real customer needs. But where’s the incentive for their makers to do the difficult and costly work of refining and perfecting products if they can “hack” the game by hooking a flawed product onto a celebrity and having him drag it back out there?

We’ve always thought the process works best when someone invents something new, convinces you to try it, then makes fixes and improvements based on customer feedback. Makes sense to use famous people to introduce it. Maybe the inventor will even get famous herself, like Joy Mangano.

But suppose makers can skip all the refinements and fixes that are part of product iteration and just start with the “famous” part. Maybe no one will notice there’s nothing new there.

If it works, and people cave in and finally embrace the product after all, it might mean product developers can dispense with the hard work that turns good ideas into truly excellent products. And that would be a bad thing for the future of innovation.