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| Sales Promotion Editorial December 2009 Almost all construction-related models are commissioned by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) as promotional items in support of the sales of the real machines. Some of the model ranges are very extensive for OEMs such as Caterpillar and Liebherr. However one of the surprising aspects of this is how often little information is supplied with the model about the real machine. At the best end of the scale, a copy or reprint of the brochure for the original machine is provided, and the Manitowoc Group in conjunction with TWH Collectibles have it just about right with Grove crane models having a brochure reprint, and the Manitowoc 4100W series models having a reprint of the original brochures of these historic cranes. In fact TWH has a very good approach to this across their model range. However many models by other makers are provided with little or nothing in terms of the real machine. Even the big OEMs are guilty here with Caterpillar, Liebherr and Terex being minimalistic to say the least, and yet a visit to their company websites shows that there is no end of specification sheets and brochures available. You would imagine that as models are generally a promotional product, directly providing information on the real machine would be worthwhile. Collectors would certainly value the information as it adds to the collectability, and provides interesting information for when the real machine is long out of production. So what should be expected? As a minimum it seems that the box itself provides an opportunity for basic information about the real machine and model makers and OEMs should collaborate to use the space on the box. Better still, equipment brochures and specification sheets should be provided with the model. Another option is to include a CD or other digital media which could contain copies of documents, and also videos and photographs. As the content is already available on OEM websites the costs in producing it should be minimal and should not add much to the cost of a model. Cranes Etc |
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