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Re: loop device endorsement - was Santanas looping bassist




>matthias, you said something about product endorsements being old-school &
>boring, or something much like that.....

Oh, David, thank you for caring! :
It was rather about the adds that show the guy with his thing, 
compared to the real thing like a concert where we can see what he 
does and most important: feel the result!
Sure some EDPs would be sold if we had an add with you holding it and 
smiling... I am not sure about face wrinkes though... ;-)

I think it depends a lot on the type of product and customers. Some 
things you cannot sell to someone who understands about it, so the 
endorser add is the only way to sell it! ;-) A looping tool may be 
too dificult to explain in an add...

>personally, i think that endorsements can be very useful & more than a 
>little
>practical, when:
>1) they reflect real useage,

fundamental to me

>2) the market niche is well-defined, and
>3) they are pursued w/some long-range plan w/educational depth, especially
>and most specifically in regards to 'hidden' instruments..... such as the 
>edp.
>(this is certainly the repeat of a discussion that i began having w/both 
>kim
>and the then-not-ready-for-committment-folks-at-gibson, when the edp was
>first released, after the failure of lexicon higher-up execs to stick w/a
>long-range plan for marketing the jamman).

yes, such serious endorsing/education is what we need, it seems.

>with a hidden *player's* instrument like the edp ---(ie, the instrument is
>being used intensively, but the audience can't *see* either it or the
>player's direct interaction with it ---eg, benny reitveld at the santana
>performance --- unlike a les paul/a dw drumkit/or even a waldorf synth
>etc)--- it seems that such endorsements might even be necessary;

Well, this thread started because my friend Samuel *saw* the EDP on 
Santanas stage. Maybe someone who has no idea about it, would have 
more trouble to figure out which machine did the trick. The LEDs 
tell...
But would someone who liked the bass solo and did not see how it was 
done rather look through a magazine until he sees Bennys face or step 
into a shop and ask or google for it?
I am of the kind that walks toards the stage before and after the 
show and sometimes wait until the musician or roadie come out... 
sometimes they are friendly to answer some questions... in this 
aspect, smaller shows are more efficient, though.

>my strongest suggestion, those years ago and *still*, would be to follow 
>up
>the endorsement w/a series of **regular** looping clinic-tours sponsored 
>by
>the manufacturer, w/instructional videos (or whatever) made available for
>sale (but, free-of-charge to salesfolk at the retail level), also by the
>manufacturer.

yesyesyes, no doubt, go ahead! ;-)

>
>of course, in my own case, gibson dropped the planning-ball many, many 
>moons
>ago;
>though:
>i made myself available, for whatever that might have been worth ---(not 
>very
>much to them, obviously, i guess!)--- ..... and left the door wide open,
>w/absolutely no response from any business-planning folk at
>gibson/trace/gibson.
>that little bit off my hairy chest:
>i'm sooooo very glad to see that andré/kim/etc have (rightfully, as andré 
>is
>such a rocking edp-badass) begun a new forward-thrust, on their own
>initiative.
>
>so, regarding looping-devices, i guess i'd opine that some truthful
>endorsements might be --- at least, eventually--- more than a bit 
>valuable to
>a manufacturer interested in (and capable of actuating) longer-range 
>planning.
>if the manufacturers want people to buy the product, but folks
>a) don't have an idea of what-it-is, and
>b) are clueless as to how they might use it, themselves, well.....
>
>the word must go out, somehow --- i guess that's what LD is for, eh? --- 
>and
>i'm led to speculate that the manufacturers, themselves, tend to lose 
>deeply
>via their lack of marketing commitment/planning vis-a-vis looping 
>instruments.

thank you for signing this frank opinion!

>
>just ruminating.....
>best,
>dt / splattercell


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