Freebees!

Rawb · September 2009

Having been to a couple shows an events lately I got to thinking .. WTF... don't no one hand out give aways anymore? I see a booth set uo by a local radio station, whether it is a station I listen to or not.. I walk up to it and look at the 'kids' behind the table and say...\" Hats, t-shirts stickers, keychains, mugs, belt buckles?.. anything?\". They look at me as if I am an alien from space! I look back at 'em as if they were aliens from space.. an say .. then why are you here? \"Well you want to sign up for a free trip to Prarie Dog city in South Dakota?\" WTF .. NO! I want a stinkin' T-shirt! Without having to give you all my personal info, that's what I want! Geez, thanks for wastin my time I could be half way thru the line at the beer stand by now!

I know way back in the day! When ever I came home from any event I atleast had a few stickers...

Even with the product loyalty of today .. you get nothing from the manufacturers.. Sure you believe in/support .. (choose your brand) But if you want to sport a hat or t-shirt from them well you just have to go to their online store and .. Buy one! .. ie Pay them to market their product or name!.. WTF! I will say this though, a few yrs back when I purchased a Fender bass practice amp I did get a 'small' sticker with the documentation.. WoW... Didn't even get that when I dropped $1500 on a Marshall half stack several yrs ago!

What's a guy have to do? Lay out 2-3 grand to travel to the NAMM show to get a freakin sticker!?

guitar3456 · September 2009

Radio stations have been more or less killed by the Ipod. Before that, it was CD changers in cars and at home on shuffle. Other than a few shock jock morning station people, the rest is a rotation of common hits.

People can say X corporation ruined radio, but realistically listener-ship has been sinking since the late 80's and digital medium technology. Otoh, for every group of guys mad their station will not air their favorite artist, they look at what national level artist they are promoting and toss a salad with them on the hard drives. They did the same thing when whatever band was coming near for a show, or had a new release. Recycled that song 8-12x a day. So if Poison, Whitesnake and Journey were headlining within a week, you heard their 2 hits constantly, mixed with other things.

Just like Television and cable companies, they track the amt of listeners and the type of formats used are consistent with that demographic. In some areas you'll have 4 stations playing urban and hip hop. In some other areas you'll have 2 Country or Classic Rock stations. In terms of regaining listeners that's a hard sell. Shock Jock entertainers are about the only forms they have left. So if you look closely, those guys are AM and then the next round for the drive home at rush hour. After 6pm, radio is kind of just on shuffle play. Why? Because the kids have the Ipods turned on or are streaming on the net.

Promotional events, some sponsored events they may have a Tee shirt or Water bottle dispenser items to hand out. Part of that sponsorship is done via ad money. Those advertisers may require them to get some info on Joe and Jane. The info usually means nothing, but its something they can at least measure legitimately and also use or may be required to have in tax deductions for promotional ads. IOW, to get their deduction, they need some form of paperwork. It's kind of the same thing when doing the free sign ups at the mall to get a free gift from the dept store.

I used to get fresh coffee and donuts when getting an oil change. Those expensed items are not as common these days. Unless you want to pay $40 for an oil change. The other thing that killed promotionals have to do with red tape permits etc. At the county fair the last few years, less promotional items were solicited due to requirements that allow someone to peddle or even give away an item. Those requirements might just be that simple one page form saying \"tell us about yourself\".

And last of all, Tee shirts are not cheap. The promotional budgets for failing radio stations are not there. They can barely keep their staff afloat. As the 30-40 year old base starts catching up to technology, the radio stations will pretty much be cooked. My youngest kids are in High School now and my oldest graduated a few years ago. None of them promoted Radio Stations. They walked around with Mp3 players and ear buds. At every event I went to, even the High School Rock off's at the R&R Hall of fame, I did not see a single kid with a WMMS shirt on! 20 years ago, 20% of the school was wearing them! And most bought them from T shirt kiosks and stores. It was the IN THING to have a Buzzard Tee!! Not any more!

Rawb · September 2009

I never bought a 101 T.. always got them promo give aways.. The last one I got was 10-12yrs ago and they were set up of all places, in my bank branch! And if I remember they killed themselves before ipods when they got busted stuffing the ballot boxes for national bragging rights!.. But I also seem to remember 20-30 yrs ago stickers everywhere!

I have to say I lean towards x-corp and the FCC for killing radio or atleast having a big hand in it. Aside from the mega populas markets Chi, NY, L.A etc Seems there is no competition in any city for any given genre/programming. Geez man go out west.. one radio station broadcasting at a billion watts,.. cuz their covering 3 or 4 states!

As for give aways.. I like 'em cuz .. well once I was young and wanted to be cool now I just like 'free' stuff! LOL .. Naw.. I like everyone have my loyalties to/for certain brands.. But I ain't paying them, to advertise for them!.. Like the saying says ... it takes money to make money!.. so what ever the cost of a T or hat or mug... advertising isn't free .. cept you get yourself in the paper or on the 11Oclock news Then again if you got there it has probably cost you somehow! LOL

Have I mentioned, I remember when there wasn't handicap parking everywhere! You could actually park in front of a business with out having to 'break the law'! LMAO 30yrs ago there would have been a 101 'sticker' on that sign too!

Revshredder · September 2009

Man, I so agree with you Rawb. I use to have my guitar cases plastered with stickers from guitar manufacturers, string brands, amps, radio stations...anything I could get my hands on. Now you drop a grand on a guitar or amp you may bet lucky enough to get a sticker the size of a dollar bill. Buy a $15 set of strings (Same brand I have used for almost 30 years) and you get nothing but an order form so you can \"Order\" a sticker, what ever...it would be cool to get back to that again, but I guess we're getting old and those are the \"good Ol' days\" we use to hear about, LOL!
Peace-

gtaus · September 2009

In the \"Good Ole Days\" I earned $1.85 for my labor. Albums cost about $10 and had pops and clicks all over the place. Laptop computers were a notebook and pencils placed on your lap. We had one phone for the whole house, and that was on a party line. Don't even think about making a long distance phone call unless someone just went into the hospital. I saved all my spare money one summer and bought a used LP knock-off for a little less than $400. I got a new stereo cassette recorder which cost me almost $300. That's a lot of money at $1.85 per hour.

Today, I can make considerably more per hour for my labor. I used to buy CD's for about $10 each, but now I just go on the internet and listen to just about anything I want whenever I want. Also, I have subscribed to a service where I can download almost any album I want. I have 1000's of digital albums that don't pop or click at my finger tip. I have 4 computers in my house currently in use, with others in the closet or in the garage. Now we have cell phones with unlimited long distance calling. Guitars, IMHO, are built better today and far less expensive, with lots more to choose from. My 4 GB mp3 player cost me less than $50 and holds more music than I will listen to in an entire month.

I really don't miss much about the 'Good ole days' to be honest. I do miss paper guitar magazines that I could take anywhere. It's not the same reading magazines online - for me anyway. Also, I don't much care to take a laptop in the reading room when I'm on the throne.... Give me a paper magazine, thank you. Also, we didn't have much for TV when I was growing up. So all the neighborhood kids got together for baseball, football, etc.... I don't see enough of that today. I'm also thankful we did not have game machines to mind suck our young lives. How many hours do my nephews and nieces sit in front of their TV screens playing these mindless games? I'm not opposed to entertainment, it's just that I'm pretty much opposed to sit at home alone, play by yourself, game machine entertainment.

I guess I would much rather be young today with all the opportunities available. Or maybe, I would just rather be younger, period. At any rate, I don't really miss the few freebees we used to get. I agree that you just don't see much free stuff being handed out anymore, but I don't know if many people really care. Costs on products and services are relatively low today and I suppose profit margins are narrower. In the balance, I think things are better in most respects for all of us today, despite fewer free handouts of promotional items.

Rawb · September 2009

Good ole days... threads about big corporate brother being the stingy b#st#rds that they have become, to even give away a sticker! Geez wouldn't want to deprive upper managment their yearly motivational get away in Hawaii....

The good ole days! yep I'll take em back, rotory phone and all. do not want to be a youngin in these times ... back in the day if went cruisin for a slut all I had to worry about was the clap! kids these days have to ponder if that piece of tail is worth dying for :shock:

Freebees!

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