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John Deere Releases a Noise Canceling Headset

November 22, 2005

This announcement from design firm Outside the Box Inc. came across the TMCnet news feeds a little while ago:

Increase Safety And Comfort With New John Deere Noise Canceling Headset; Outside the Box, Inc. Designed a New Headset for Blocking Ambient Equipment Noise

This is of interest to us here at TMCnet, as we cover the call center industry, where the headset is a key piece of equipment -- see our Headsets, Wireless Headsets and VoIP Headsets channels. Headsets are�also of interest to us because we cover consumer electronics and�many of us�own iPods and other digital audio players.

The interesting twist here is that this new product is being marketed by�John Deere (appears to be a private-label product designed by Outside the Box), a maker of lawn care and farming equipment. If I understand correctly, the John Deer Noise Canceling Headset doubles for audio listening and ear protection. During my younger years, I served for awhile as safety officer for a�construction firm and wrote on safety issues for construction trade journals. Ear protection is an important safety issue in many industries, as machinery noise can cause permanent hearing loss. (For that matter, so can loud music -- so a headset can�mean the salvation of your hearing or its destruction.) So a hearing-protection product�has�a natural tie-in as an accessory�to be sold by�John Deere.

When I review product announcements like this, I like to look beyond the pure technical content of the release and consider the marketing effectiveness of the communications as well. I noticed a few things that concern me�about this headset announcement:

+ The release doesn't�specifically come right out and say that the John Deere Noise Canceling Headset is an audio product -- in other words, they don't actually say you can use it to listen to music! Rather, the focus is on the product as a device to protect the user from equipment noise. I would think the release would function better as a marketing vehicle if it was more explicit in saying that this headset has a dual purpose.�The copywriter�shouldn't assume that the reader will understand that.

+ The release refers the reader to www.johndeeregifts.com, but the product is not available on the site. Looks as if the product�does not actually�go on sale�until January 2006. It would be great to be able to see a picture of the product now, but I don't see any way to find one. (Will the headset be colored 'John Deere Green'? Hope so!)�I do see that ProTravelGear.com�sells noise canceling headsets from Outside the Box, so maybe the product will look something like the ones on that site, e.g.:

+ I also notice that Outside the Box has no web site itself�other than a home page with a logo at outsidetheboxgroup.com. Too bad. It would be interesting to know more about this company.

AB -- 11/22/05




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