Out of the blue I was asked to review a ‘gravity-defying phone holder’. The product is a lightweight desktop device, angled at about 45 degrees. Its face has a ‘sticky’ rubber coating to grip the reverse of your phone, holding it firmly, even at acute angles. This review is not so much about the product itself as the way it was marketed.
I was first contacted by telephone by ‘Carla’ from promotional gifts company ideasbynet. She gave a short description of the product and asked whether I would like to receive one. I agreed, knowing full well the idea was to get me and others to blog about it, creating awareness and link-juice to the company’s site. Fair enough. I had nothing to lose.
The product arrived. First impressions:
- A very 1980s-style desk-clutterer.
- An angular design.
- Made of brushed aluminium or lightweight plastic?
The ‘What? Gravity’ (terrible name) has a front face covered with a spongy rubberized material (this is where you stick your phone).
Sure enough my iPhone stuck to it. There is plenty of room to plug in a charger cable while a phone is resting on this device.
I occasionally use my phone with a headset while at my desk, so, theoretically, I could find it useful to have my phone raised up at an angle. Unfortunately, when I try to punch numbers into the phone the What? Gravity moves around. This problem could have been solved with a much heavier construction, but I guess that would push up the unit cost a fair bit.
I will probably give this device to my eldest son. He’s got an iPod Touch and will love it.
Subsequently Carla emailed with a fairly laid-back follow up note. It includes links to the video you see here, plus a request to review the product. I didn’t feel under pressure to post, but thought the product marketing process I’d just been through interesting enough to do just that.
I’ve given the product a mixed review, but ideasbynet has achieved its ambition of a blog post including back links. Not a bad piece of content marketing, when you think about it…