And for some reason, Maxwell House.

Anyway, you may remember we talked in class previously about ways a company can maintain its competitive advantage, and one of the methods discussed was focusing on a specific strength. As an example we talked briefly about Stern Pinball, the last company on earth mass-producing pinball machines, along with an informative, yet absolutely terrible, web-page. We also discussed how Bally/Williams used to make them but they now focus on slot machines; that will become relevant in a moment.

So imagine my surprise when I learned about an advertising campaign – they refer to it as ‘sponsored content’ – from Maxwell House titled “Made Right Here,” in which they focus on inspiring ‘Made in America’ stories, and the premier episode was about Stern pinball!

One of the nifty things about pinball machines is that not only are they a very rare craft, but in this age of iPads and smartphones and Xboxes, a pinball machine is a mechanical device. It has advanced circuitry and software for everything from playfield objects to driving the plasma-based dot-matrix display, but ultimately it still uses flippers, plungers, and bumpers among other mechanical means. It’s a good reminder of how things used to be while still being incredibly advanced.

All Bally/Williams machines (Except Lord of the Rings, fourth from the left, made by Stern

Before I show you the video, one other interesting thing has cropped up in the recent acquisition of Bally, who along with Williams was once the largest pinball manufacturer on earth, by Scientific Games for $5.1 billion: You’ll remember that we have talked in class a couple of times about making strategic, or long-term, decisions, and that it is a very difficult thing to do. We mentioned those people who will say things such as “I could have told you that would happen” when in fact they could *not* have. In the announcement of the buyout by Scientific Games, just below the middle of the page, they have a heading titled “Forward-Looking Statements,” in which they acknowledge that much of what they are doing is speculative and is indicated as such by the use of words such as “intend,” “will,” “anticipate” and “believe” among others. In essence they are saying “we expect a certain outcome, but we can’t guarantee it.” That’s an important thing to say.

So, back to the original topic. I have embedded the video below. It’s only five minutes but it’s a surprisingly good behind-the-scenes documentary on this unusual company and their unique product.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ6mpAQkR8Y