Well looks like we will go for it and add a real entry before my massive web-dev team finishes the redesign.
Looking out across the great spectrum of cheap-schwill that is the Internet I stumbled (between horse-fucks-girl pornography sites) upon an interesting article from last month over at freewilliamsburg. It discusses marketers going beyond "cool hunting*" by hooking up cash-poor (but supposedly cred-high) "indie" musicians with free beer/clothing/etc hoping that others will see their hero's imbuing/wearing said products and make ditto-like. They call it "Presence Marketing"
Now, without taking the time (though having the inclination) to diss on the article in general ("ueber hip fader magazine" WTF?!?!). In regards to it's the salient points:
a.) Is this really that out of character for "indie" musicians to go along with? I know my fare share of folks in bands, poor and otherwise and I can't see any of them turning down free booze/clothing in order to stick it to The Man. This could be generational, they have some fun quotes from Mark Hosler of Negativland talking about how artists of his generation would never do such a thing (and he is really one of the few people that can say that and not come off as an ass, however he has a lot more cred in my nearsighted eyes than just about anyone else from his generation).
b.) Does this really work? I know there are a lot of impressionable people out there but this seems like a bit of a stretch. Paraphrasing one of the marketing like people who are pushing this idea the scam goes something like this: a company like Rheingold gives bands free beer in the dressing room of shows, the bands bring the beer with them onstage, and the kids in the audience assume band X likes Rheingold and thus they should too. The problem is, i don't think audiences are that impressionable anymore, the modern audience has progressed beyond that in that they are not looking to emulate entertainers i/r/t lifestyle. Shit, stalling out here on the rationalization a bit, but yea, I call bullshit on this marketing concept, except i am for people getting free beer and clothing.
c.) How can I sign up to either be one of the people who either picks who gets the free beer or in-the-least gets the free beer and Diesel jeans? It mentions somewhere that they pick up-and-coming visual artists... can I apply for this somewhere, does it come with a solo show? Someone send me a link
Posted by thickeye at January 6, 2004 11:18 PM | TrackBack