I’m a fan of DNA startup 23andMe. In fact, I was one of the first people to lay down $1,000 and take the test. And I like what they are doing to help disease research.
But this blimp (or rather a zeppelin) they’re flying around Silicon Valley is a menace. First of all, I go outside to get away from work, not to look up in the sky and see a big startup logo hovering over my house. And our attempts to take a video of it almost resulted in a car crash (video below) (Yeah, probably more my fault than theirs, but still, it’s there, I need to video it. From a moving car). Go away, Blimp. Or Zeppelin.
Apparently this thing has been around for a while. An excruciatingly detailed overview of the zeppelin and why it is flying around with a 23andMe logo on it is here.
I admit, I paid $1000 for their test as well.
However, I’m not a fan of them at all. The results were next to useless and once I showed them to my physician, he called them dangerous because they were vague.
I wouldn’t pay for their test again.
Well I guess they decided that search advertising was not quite enough …
I have a brin on my face oops sorry, i mean grin…you nailed it.. very funny !
Do they tell you before hand how the results look like? $1000 is a lot of money to put down for most people.
It was $1000 12 months ago. It’s now $99.
we were at huntington beach on the 4th of july and i kept seeing the blimp then too.
It’s their way of telling people:
You can run, but you cannot hide.
We’ll know everything about you.
With a shred of $ off the interest, off one bank account, he, er, I mean she could serve 100 lesser known ills a huge advancement.
How about RSD/CRPS affecting millions?
There are MD’s that don’t even know how to track it/identify it!
I saw it a few nights ago floating in the night sky without any lights on. Pretty scary! I would rather see a TechCrunch blimp above me. Btw, it was very nice meeting you Mr. Arrington at the Crunchup party last night. It was the greatest summer party I’ve had so far. Great music, great people, great fun, and nonstop eating and drinking! – Andy
I’ve spoken with a geneticist (PhD from Harvard) about 23andMe and the information the tests provided. He said, in short, that the data is pretty much useless to an individual and that most factors contributing to a disease are environmental. However, he said that on a very large scale the mapping of the genes could provide valuable research.
I think I read in Wired that one of the 23AndMe founders is the wife of one of the Google founders (yes, I can check the facts with some quick searches but it would defeat the point of writing something online in a vague tone). You say “very large scale” and I say Google. Perhaps in the contract people sign when performing the test, it allows them to use the data anonymously. If enough people test and if the data is searchable, then the parsed information becomes very valuable for licensing to pharmaceutical companies. I wouldn’t be surprised if each individual test costs them more than $1000 to make.
i hear the tests are pretty cheap now as the technology has advanced. They don’t complete sequencing
Last time I checked the test was 400 USD. Or 600 for 2 people.
The tests themselves (the lab work) cost about $20 to run. They have been starting at the high end in order to segment the market.
When I saw Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday the 23andMe Blimp was there as well. I was surprised how no one seemed to know what the company was except for me. The blimp alone doesn’t really work as a compelling ad unless you’re near someone who has heard of the company before or you’re curious enough to look up what it is on your phone/laptop.
nice band
Tell us more about CrunchPad. Can I buy one soon?
Dave Winer will even buy one I heard.
Oh sometime in the late 1990’s I fell asleep at a friend’s pool. I started having a nightmare about a loud buzzing sound…I gently awoke and had the tar scared out of me. As I opened my eyes I was staring directly at it: The Goodyear Blimp was nearly directly overhead, and just above the treeline. I did not think they flew that low. I think those pilots had nothing to do, so that was their version of “buzzing.” That was the first time I heard the sound a blimp’s engine makes, and I will never, ever forget it.
If you cannot get your company written up on TechCrunch, take your company to Michael’s house. Even if he writes, “You guys are creepy”, remember, any press is good press. MIchael you were punked.
I like how the crunchbase entry about 23andme.com refers to the founder as “the wife of Sergey Brin”.
Doesn’t she have a name or something?
Tut, tut -such a lack of social skills!
Etiquette dictates that you should refer to her as Mrs. Brin, since you have apparently not yet been introduced.
Etiquette also dictates that you know what you’re talking about before speaking.
Her name is Anne Wojcicki, not Mrs. Brin.
I saw the blimp over Stanford Friday morning. I admit the “ad” forced me to the website but once there I was not persuaded to sign up.
So on one hand the blimp inspired views but it led to an uninspiring presentation.
It was in Long Beach 4th of July weekend.
one giant write off for tax purposes at many levels–write off for google on the investment in 23 and Me in particular. Mike, you should put that cartoon image of you drawn at Techrunch Party on the Blimp and let it fly around–that was cool to see as were the engraved Iphones and the Grey Goose drinks which hit the spot on a perfect evening. Another year another rockin party! I want to book the band that played too–they jammed! Cant wait until the big 5th celebration next year!
way to go google…i mean 23andMe…you have successfully found a way to market to birds.
out of curiosity, has anyone actually signed up from the sight of the blimp?
also, is this blimp flying out of moffett field? i hope our our government has nothing to do with this.
Would be cool if you guys went into a little more depth and compared the cost of blimp advertising with other traditional forms of advertising. Clearly the blimp is getting attention.
A blimp with advertising……..keep up the breaking news stories.
its so cheezy. the might as well rent a banner behind an airplane flying around Spring Break in Cancun.
Doesn’t this mean the blimp is working ?
It was in Burbank, CA by the Burbank Airport last week, close to Yahoo offices. You can pay to ride the blimps/airships…. cost $$$
http://victorca...urbank-airport/
blimps=cheap advertisement in that its crating awareness for its clients, but after the get success, they might not want it.
Blimps are really creepy. Was one hovering above Philadelphia a few days ago, kept distracting me while I was trying to read a book in the park.
http://www.geno...earch-goes-dtc/
Genomics Law Report
A interesting commentary -
Bases on my knowledge, I say what the 23andMe does is useless for individual people. It is just for pure fun, but it may be helpful for biological research.
We all should know that the chance for each individual to get some disease is 50%. The statistical result is meaningless for each.
And they do not sequence the whole genome, just detect several determined position to see this gene types. 1000 dollars are a little high. Anyway it is just for fun at this period.
i was reading a article about how much google knows a lot about us….. will know they want to know about our DNA….. now that creepy !!!!
23inme.com would have made more sense. still i dont like the name either way. this has got to be the biggest sideshow circus act that google money has ever created.
RealityHeadlineNews: Google worth 100 billion loans multibillionaire founders wife 3.8 million dollars for genetics website to make more money.
OH, THE HUMANITY!
Seems like smart advertising to me.
It’s all fun and games until the government subpoenas the DNA info on a suspect.
Yep, the blimp was over our place in Tiburon all morning…going from near the Golden Gate Bridge past Tiburon towards the East Bay, then back around. Snagged this vid of it with my iPhone 3GS:
http://www.yout...h?v=XvDOCcoynm0
Vaguely Orwellian, but ultimately cool (better than blimp ads of the late 90’s for dotcoms hawking pet food…)
The blimp should hower over The Inland Valley(most populated area in Africa), not Silicon Valley.
The Zeppelin is pretty cool. Ever since the early days of flight, people always used flying things for advertising.
I don’t understand what’s the issue. Is this even a story or is it because the ad is from a Googler?
Co-Pilot: Where are we flying today?Pilot: We’re Going To California.Co-Pilot: Hot Dog, I love California.Pilot: Cool. Can you take over the controls? I’m Gonna Crawl in the back and grab a Tangerine. Do you want anything?Co-Pilot: No I’m good. Hey do you think later on In The Evening we could hover over Michael Arrington’s house?Pilot: Sounds good. Maybe he’ll be outside blogging about MySpace crumbling. Poor Tom.Co-Pilot: For sure. There’s definitely been a Communication Breakdown from old Rupert. His Dancing Days are over as far as I’m concerned.
I’m up in the San Jose area for a few days and saw this blimp the last few mornings as well. I thought it was a bit odd, but figured this is normal for this area…apparently it’s not.
My first thought in seeing this was not “I wonder what this company does…”. My first thought was “what the heck is a genetics company doing flying a blimp around San Jose on a Friday morning…I’d be curious to see their response rates from this marketing tactic”.
Haven’t seen it this morning yet, but I’ll be heading out and about soon = )
May not be completely a tax purpose filling company, but might do good in long run. I can imagine the extent of competition these days even in personal genetics which pushes one to such an extent to advertise……….