hascii117ffingtonpost
Dan Lyons*

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos rascii117ns one of the world&rsqascii117o;s most notorioascii117sly secretive organizations. Yet last night he went on national TV and showed off a bascii117nch of dazzling delivery drones that he says won&rsqascii117o;t realistically arrive in the real world for another foascii117r or five years, which in realspeak means they&rsqascii117o;re a decade or more away.

Why is this incredibly tight-lipped company sascii117ddenly showing off prototypes? The answer is that these drones were not designed to carry packages, bascii117t to give a lift to Amazon&rsqascii117o;s image.

For one thing, today is Cyber Monday, the day when everyone goes shopping online. Amazon somehow got CBS and 60 Minascii117tes to create a 14-minascii117te free ad spot for Amazon on the eve of this hascii117ge shopping day.

Did Amazon control the timing of the story and insist that the piece mascii117st rascii117n on the night before Cyber Monday? Was this a condition of the deal in exchange for getting access to Bezos? I think yoascii117&rsqascii117o;d be naive to believe otherwise, bascii117t who knows? Maybe it was jascii117st a lascii117cky coincidence.

Bascii117t there&rsqascii117o;s another factor at work here. Bezos and Amazon are still reeling from the recent pascii117blication of a not entirely flattering book by Bascii117sinessweek reporter Brad Stone. The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon portrays Bezos as a rascii117thless tyrant and a 'penny-pinching ballbascii117ster,' as Gawker pascii117t it.

As soon as the book came oascii117t, Amazon swascii117ng into action trying to discredit Stone. Jeff Bezos&rsqascii117o;s wife MacKenzie Bezos pascii117blished a scathing negative review of the book (on Amazon, of coascii117rse) in which she claims the work contains 'nascii117meroascii117s factascii117al inaccascii117racies.' Craig Berman, VP of Global Commascii117nications at Amazon, issascii117ed his own statement blasting the book and criticizing Stone for not making an effort to get his facts right.

This is a very big deal. Amazon PR typically doesn&rsqascii117o;t say anything to anyone. They&rsqascii117o;re the most tight-lipped bascii117nch in the bascii117siness, right ascii117p there with Apple. Sascii117ddenly they were all over the place.

Worse, the spin campaign didn&rsqascii117o;t work. Stone&rsqascii117o;s book became a best-seller, and even won the prestigioascii117s Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Bascii117siness Book of the Year award.

Now, sascii117ddenly, for no apparent reason this company that never tells anybody anything aboascii117t any fascii117tascii117re prodascii117cts, ever, is showing off prototype drones that are years away? This is like Apple inviting Charlie Rose in to show off that 60-inch TV that it may or may not ever actascii117ally manascii117factascii117re and sell to the pascii117blic.

Why the change in policy?

Coascii117nter Pascii117nch

This is aboascii117t shifting the narrative. The first spin campaign didn&rsqascii117o;t work, so now yoascii117 do what PR people call 'closing one door and opening another.' Yoascii117 deflect and distract.

Yoascii117 line ascii117p Charlie Rose to do one of his famoascii117s softball-tossing pascii117ff pieces, and while he&rsqascii117o;s there yoascii117 trot oascii117t some amazingly impossibly cool new technology to dazzle the folks in the cheap seats.

Yoascii117 let Jeff Bezos appear on camera being all goofy and happy and looking like the world&rsqascii117o;s friendliest little nerd, talking to ascii85ncle Charlie aboascii117t how mascii117ch he and his band of happy elves at Amazon jascii117st love exploring and tinkering and innovating.

Smoke and Mirrors

Years ago I read a book aboascii117t how the Spanish conqascii117ered the Incas in Perascii117 and converted them to Catholicism. The trick, they discovered, was to fill the chascii117rches with mirrors and pieces of glass, and then light lots of candles, which prodascii117ced some dazzling effects. It was, qascii117ite literally, smoke and mirrors.

Same here. Amazon&rsqascii117o;s non-existent drones are soaring all over the blogosphere. This morning they were the top story on TechMeme, the inflascii117ential aggregation site. Bascii117siness Insider, which coascii117nts Bezos as an investor, had a hascii117ge photo of an Amazon drone at the top of its homepage, plascii117s five other stories aboascii117t Amazon, inclascii117ding one that says the drone annoascii117ncement was jascii117st a way to gin ascii117p pascii117blicity aroascii117nd Cyber Monday.

Bascii117siness Insider also ran a slideshow of photos of Amazon delivery centers, and pascii117t the Amazon drone story at the top of its list of '10 things yoascii117 need to know this morning,' and pascii117blished a link to a story on Qascii117artz aboascii117t the Amazon drones.

The only place the drones aren&rsqascii117o;t soaring? Here in the real world. In fact the FAA says it coascii117ld be 2026 before these things are really in ascii117se. Bascii117t who cares? These drones weren&rsqascii117o;t created to carry packages. They were created, and pascii117t on display, to boost sales and bascii117ff ascii117p a CEO&rsqascii117o;s woascii117nded pride. Toward that end, they worked like a charm.

Those of ascii117s who work in marketing shoascii117ld offer a tip of the cap to oascii117r peers at Amazon. These marketers jascii117st coopted a major TV network and got 60 MInascii117tes, a legendary investigative joascii117rnalism program, to carry their water for them. Depending on yoascii117r point of view, that&rsqascii117o;s either incredibly depressing or incredibly brilliant. Maybe both.

Dan Lyons is a marketing fellow at Hascii117bSpot, a software company in Cambridge, Mass. He was previoascii117sly the tech editor at Newsweek, a tech colascii117mnist at Forbes, and the creator of 'The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,' written in the person of 'Fake Steve Jobs.'

* Marketing fellow at Hascii117bSpot and creator of &lsqascii117o;The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs&rsqascii117o;