Last week, Martha Stewert toured the 3D Printing TechZone at CES in Las Vegas, shopping for a 3D printer with which to produce prototypes of her line of home goods. In the brief half hour tour of the place, she made three deals with MakerBot, declaring 3D printers “a good thing.”
She began her tour at the Parrot booth, right next door to the 3D Printing TechZone, to see some of their new personal drone technology. Straightaway she demonstrates how utterly strange billions of dollars can make a person. Literally the only person who has ever said, “I would like my life to be run by drones,” Martha goes on to describe how she uses an AR Drone 2.0 to photograph her properties and to “monitor the kids.” Before leaving, Stewart declares an intent to purchase a handful of their products, including a remote controlled robot for her grandkids and a device that monitors plants in your greenhouse.
The TechCrunch crew then guided her over to the MakerBot booth, where she was introduced to the company’s CEO, Bre Pettis, and the three new Makerbots that were launched at CES. Without missing a beat, Bre tells Martha that there should be a Martha Stewart line of 3D models offered via MakerBot online. She agrees absently, as she is too distracted by the large MakerBot Replicator Z18 3D Printer sitting beside him.
It is totally feasible that a possible marketing deal was in the works, possibly between Martha Stewart’s company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and MakerBot. With both will.i.am and Martha Stewart joining the fray at CES 2014, we can say that 3D printing is way past niche technology, heading right into that mainstream — and all of the marketing exploitation that comes with it.
