False Economy and Cheap Quality Video

We’re all trying to save money – duh. Good results are requisite, but if we can find a more efficient or less expensive route to that end, we’d be foolish to not take it.

Recently I needed to replace some fairly expensive ink cartridges in our DVD duplicator. When I came across a product that promises to refill cartridges for about a tenth the cost of new ones, I was dubious, but couldn’t resist trying it out.

When it arrived, I was cautiously optimistic, but was committed to the value of the duplicator itself – no way was I going to risk damaging the equipment just to save a few bucks. That would be the definition of False Economy.

When it arrived, everything about it looked just a little cheap. I pictured someone making this in their garage with poor QC protocols. I was becoming less comfortable risking the health of a key piece of equipment in the pursuit of relatively minor savings. I’d heard horror stories of printers and duplicators being ruined by faulty refills.

Then I noticed a DVD in the box. I popped it in to watch the instruction video and THAT was the death nail. The video was clearly home made, with bad lighting, reflections, poor audio and just a general lack of professionalism; it made a very poor impression. I judged that if they cut such ugly corners with their video that they probably cut all sorts of other corners and I returned the product.

Of course, I’m pickier than the average video viewer, but I’m certainly not the only consumer that makes quality judgments about a company and its products based on the media they use to promote their products. I believe that companies and organizations that are confident in their value invest in quality media.

I’m off to buy more ink cartridges!

Matt Krzycki

Matt Krzycki is the Creative Director at GoodSide Studio. You can email him at Matt@GoodSideStudio.com