Buy Now, By Now: I bear witness to the light of the new world order of multimedia pitches to sell law books to the individual consumer

If it isn't obvious to all, I humbly suggest that it should be obvious to all that the folks who once marketed to attorneys that they were as nutty as a fruit cake if they believed they needed to know their law librarian's name to perform legal research, most certainly believe that those same attorneys don't need to know their librarian's name to acquire legal resources from West. TR Legal's marketing strategy is clearly focused on the individual consumer. Now that's all fine and well if that individual is authorized to acquire what he or she is buying on WestMart but it is quite a different matter if he or she is not.

But I have seen the face of god unless there is no god. Say "hi" to Westlaw Portfolio.

Get a closer look at legal resources from Westlaw – and the issues and experts behind them.

It's a mutimedia extravaganza! As for "the issues and experts behind [Westlaw's legal resources]," well, I wish TR Legal's editorial staff paid as much attention to the content of what they send to production as the marketing copy writers do to sell what is sent to production.

What we really have here is just a snuggie wrap-around for a multimedia sales e-flyer with sales blurbs regurgitated from p-flyers we all get in the mail (but for how much longer?). As for the quality of the multimedia, go to the blurb for Norton's Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 3d, at page 35 to listen to the author's two minute audio clip. It almost made me want to click on the "Buy Now" link just too stop listening to it. Damn good thing that I remembered I killed Norton's during my first Shed West era go-around because all my little county law library needs is the best-in-class Collier's. (Don't worry. The Westlaw Portfolio is a free download and we all know that anything TR Legal offers for free just has to be a good thing, right?)

Yes, it is era of the West author as sale pitchman. I'm thinking Johnny and Jenny Westlaw would do a better job. That's how comical this is. Why the Westlaw Portfolio didn't link to the 30 second video clip by the same person found on Norton's Bankruptcy Law and Practice, 3d's eCommerce site web page is beyond me. At least it was shorter than the audio clip.

That's right, also say "hi" to video clip pitching on WestMart too. Will author videos be followed by testimonial ones (perhaps featuring Johnny and Jenny Westlaw)? I'm thinking it dawned on someone to pitch sales to the YouTube generation even when many YouTube-gen attorneys cannot afford to pay for TR Legal resources out of their own pockets. But they won't have to if they belong to the OnePassYourAss club.

So what do we have here? We have an enhanced e-sales delivery system that includes audio, video and clip-thru potential sales to an internal web-hosted eCommerce site. I thought we would see those sorts of enhancements with unverified upsells by way of enhanced law eBooks and enhanced legal database search services to provide additional resources revenues sooner rather than later. My bad, what we are seeing sooner rather than later is TR Legal's new world order of enhanced e-commerce sales pitches to the individual consumer. But, what the heck. I expect the ProView techies will be, if not already, seeking out the TR Legal Marketing techies to find out how to "enhance" the revenue stream. Considering what is deemed as a "creative solution" in the Land of 10,000 Licenses, will we see ProView titles link to West's eCommerce site for cited secondary sources published by TR Legal?

What TR Legal offering is for free via its Westlaw Portfolio multimedia e-flyer is the interactive ability to click on "Buy Now" links that will send one from the e-flyer to TR's eCommerce site. Buy By now, we all know what that could mean unless you have notified the folks in the Land of 10,000 Licenses that none of your OnePassYourAss account holders are authorized to make purchases without advance verification from you even if the account holders click on the "I am authorized" button to "buy now."

Will TR Legal start emailing unsolicted Westlaw Portfolio issues something in the future? Better check your current licenses. Nothing is stopping the Company unless you have explicited stated in your licenses that the Company is prohibited from contacting your user population. Remember, their OnePass accounts database includes your users' email accounts.

Time to pull out your current Westlaw licenses... .

I am just a tool of the Illuminati (aka TR Legal Marketing). I am no prophet. I am not going to suggest that anyone should be "mad as hell" about the birth of multimedia e-flyers. I am not going to meddle with the primal forces of nature. I'm also not going to suggest that anyone should "whip 'em out, measure them" to be invited to this party for a pink cupcake as one media mogul did. According to the Blog Widow, that too would be a moment of comic relief.

Oh, my bad. The above-mentioned "media mogul" is an actor portrayal. As for the Blog Widow's assessment ... oh no, I'm not going there. [JH]