View Single Post - Seagate Brings Their Toys to a Mall Near You

Doctor Feelgood · Administrator

Wayne, New Jersey - 11 November 2007 - Seagate and the Frag Dolls added to the typical chaos of the Willowbrook Mall by setting up a booth of their own. They weren't offering coffee mugs with your picture on them, remote control helicopters, new age music CDs, or any of the other typical pre-holiday drivel. Seagate brought their toys (they have some good ones), and they were letting anyone play with them.

I started snapping pictures, but realized quickly just how uncomfortable people in the mall could get, so I didn't take many... The display consisted of several components, most of which are visible in the image below.

In the foreground is a display with a few laptops featuring Seagate drives, all tethered to either a Seagate FreeAgent Go or a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini. Next to this we see the most popular portion of the display, a stage with a big screen TV for a gaming tournament of sorts. People passing through the mall could sign up to take on other random shoppers in a quick fight. On the back side of this display were four computers set up for gaming with LCD monitors, gaming mice, and nice gaming keypads. I had never used a gaming keypad before, but I immediately liked it more than the typical keyboard I have always used. In the distance were two smaller kiosks, each decked out with two LCD TVs connected to a variety of gaming consoles. All in all, including the main stage gaming area, there were 9 different systems to play, and there was never much of a wait to have your turn on just about anything.

There were a couple reps from Seagate manning the booth, while two of the Frag Dolls managed the mini gaming tournament on the big screen TV. I never actually saw the Frag Dolls take a turn on the game, as they were busy managing the queue of mall goers interested in trying their hand at it. It would have been fun to see them play, and perhaps knock off one of the more confident teenage boys in the crowd; one of whom actually danced in a circle pumping his fist in the air after beating a woman accompanied by an infant and a toddler.

The image below is from ground level, checking out the action on the main stage. While there are a good number of people in the shot, I remember it being even more crowded, as it took a while to navigate around the area for a better view. Regardless, the players and the spectators were all well entertained as people of various skill levels took to the controls.

Next we see the individual computer and console gaming stations. There were a variety of games to play, including first person shooters, reality simulators, and sports games.

The presence by Seagate definitely generated interest, but I am not sure people went away knowing what their product line consisted of, or how it related to the games. The people present generally weren't gamers and computer enthusiasts, but the average consumer who might not be overly concerned about the details of what component was inside their system. I heard one man ask his younger son if Seagate was a brand of gaming console, and I heard another group of people wonder if Seagate was a software manufacturer. While a few Seagate and Maxtor products were on display, they were easy to overlook, and the emphasis was on playing games and having fun. If Seagate was merely looking to build brand name awareness as it relates to gaming, then they were successful.

The third annual Digital Experience Tour makes 8 more stops between now and early January, with the last stop just happening to be in Las Vegas while CES is in full swing. Please visit the following link for more details and tour dates. If they are coming to the area, and you are stronger enough to brave the holiday crowds at the mall, be sure to stop by! They have some really nice toys to play with, and they are very good at sharing.

In conjunction with the Digital Experience Tour, Seagate/Maxtor is giving away a OneTouch 4 Mini 80GB external hard drive for information on entering.

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