Re: music just for musicians?

[Jon Durant <74074.1316@CompuServe.COM>]

Michael has some interesting perspectives on Lex's ad campaign for the 
JamMan,
and I think I can answer some of his ranting:

>Sure.  However, I think (I really honestly hope I'm not stepping of your
>toes, or Greg's, on this one) that Lex gave the impression of really not
>knowing how to approach the low end of the market.  The "32 secundos" ad
>with zany graphics seemed so full of hype that it looked as if there was
>something to hide. 

Interestingly enough, that ad campaign was by far the most sucessful 
campaign
the company ever ran in terms of response. We received more phone calls and
reader response cards for them than any other two lex ads combined. What's 
more,
one of the magazines opened up their reader response numbers to me (this 
debate
raged around lexland for some time) and the Lex ads were getting 50% more
responses than any other processors during the same time period. Now this 
didn't
translate into sales, obviously, but it does tell me that they did get 
people
interested. Which is one of the key elements in any ad campaign for any 
product.


>But it wasn't.  It could have been pushed as the replacement EH16sec 
>delay.
> Robert Fripp should have been photographed with it as soon as it came 
>out,
>rather than waiting years till Obie produced a similar product.  The one
>thing that seems to win lower market share is major artist support,
>something that wasn't even attempted until very late in the campaign (and
>then, with the exception of DT, hardly major artists.  Yes, mark Isham is
>huge, but does Joe Average Guitarist care?  The names were, I suspect, too
>highbrow - again, with the exception of the widely-known DT).  Where were
>Chet Atkins or Warren Cuccurelo, both of whom went as far as to name album
>tracks after the machine???

Actually, Warren *was* in the ad. As for the others, Michael Manring isn't 
big?
He only won "bassist of the year" in Bass plyer magaine that year, and 
graced
the cover of the mag twice in the same calendar year. Isham represents 
composers
and horn players, and Leni Stern is one of only a handful of female 
guitarists
to receive any recognition--and if you look at the Guitar Player 30th
anniversary issue, there she is among the  
"30 players who mattered" offering a looping lesson. Remember, this box is 
for a
wider audience than just guitar players.  And also remember--all of these 
people
really *do* use the device. Was the ad too little, too late? Yes, of 
course, but
to me it's amazing that it happened at all!

>The JM and Vortex were tools for the "serious" user, part of larger
>systems but given "beginner" prices.  So they assumed they _were_ beginner
>boxes, and continued to lust after 2290s etc.

So, if Lex put a $1500 price tag on 'em they'd have sold? Please! They 
didn't
sell at all untill the price dropped to $199.