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Re: loop device endorsement - was Santanas looping bassist



Kim,

In a message dated 8/23/02 12:00:27 PM, kflint@loopers-delight.com writes:

>...this is an interesting thread, I think about this subject a lot.

I bet you do! So do I. Advertising is my business. Nearly all of my 
clients are music industry manufacturers. Some of them occasionally 
get in a mode that they think what they really, really, REALLY need is
some sort of mega-star artist endorsement to set their product off. 

While I will not deny that this can be a very beneficial element in 
the general marketing mix (providing the artist is 1: KNOWN
2: CREDIBLE and 3: INFLUENTIAL in a viable BUYING target 
demographic) it ain't everything . . . not by a long shot. 

Advertising is just another form of communication. It just puts you 
on the "radar screen." It's one of many ways our consumer/commercial 
culture speaks to itself and disseminates ideas. Good 
advertising/marketing 
can help and bad advertising can sometimes hurt. But seldom is it totally 
responsible for the complete success or failure of a good product "out 
there" in the real world.

No advertising MAKES people buy things. There's no magic trick
that makes consumption compulsory -- not backwards masking,
not sugar, not caffeine, not even sex. Sometimes . . . there are some 
ideas that the world is not ready for yet. Sad to say . . . but true.
Sometimes bad financial decisions get made resulting in the 
disappearance of great products. It's weird. 

If there was one specific technique or element that I could say makes
or breaks a product I'd have to say it was LUCK -- being in the right 
place at the right time with THE GOODS that people just happen 
to be craving. Like the old saying: "It's smarter to be lucky than
it's lucky to be smart."

In the meantime all you can do is DO EVERYTHING you can to secure 
for yourself the brightest "blip" possible on people's "radar screens,"
cross your fingers and hope that the current cultural zeitgeist is
rolling relentlessly your way. Nothing quite works like good luck.
Advertising and artist endorsements are just part of the mix.
Doing your homework and having THE GOODS are a big part of the 
rest of it. But if there were a sure fire way to ensure your
"luck factor" I have not heard of it.

End of spiel.

Best regards,

Ted Killian

www.mp3.com/tedkillian
http://www.pfmentum.com/flux.html