Palm Pre

The Palm Pre seems like a pretty cool phone. It is trying to give the iPhone and the Android operating system phones, G1 and G2, a run for their money. It has a touch screen, full keyboard, and is supposed to work seamlessly with Facebook and all the Google life applications (Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, etc.). Aside from one part of the phone being sharp enough to cut cheese (see video above) the phone seems great.

Recently, I saw an ad for the Pre while watching hulu.com and I realized that Palm is also doing a really brilliant job of marketing the phone. See the commercial below.



The ad is about a phone that optimizes your uses of the internet and media anywhere you are. The voice over talks about that. The actress using the phone shows us that. But, to me, the most compelling part of the ad is the way that it calls to mind the dancing prisoner meme. See the video below.



These videos have been around for a while now. The dancing men are prisoners in the Philippines. The people who run the prison consider the dancing to be part of the rehabilitation process, but it has also become a viral video craze as well as a a draw for tourists, who can go an watch in person, and they have also become a draw for tourists, who can go an watch in person.

There are too many similarities between the Pre ad and the dancing prisoner videos to be unintentional. And it is, in fact, a brilliant meme to conjure up in people's minds to say: Palm is back and we understand you and Web 2.0. If you understand the reference it shows Palm is savvy and has its finger on the pulse. But it is also a striking and amusing image if you aren't familiar with the phenomena. It works on both levels, but screams to those in the know: this is the phone for you.

This ad is a great example of why companies and especially market researchers should pay attention to memes.