Back & Forth
Another minefield in the endorsement game comes from “fake news.” (Incoming!) Today the web is filled with blogs that have minimal following and/or authors that portray their using a product “online” as beneficial. Some promote reviews that rarely get read or target the non-buying public.
In most cases, we asked for advance payment of gear for review – even with online magazines – as a measure to prove that they were serious. We’d credit them back when products were returned.
I recall one time the folks at a digital music service contacted us to say that they were going to do video shoots with artists that came through and wanted a bunch of free products for their studio. I asked what the benefit to our company would be, and they replied that the products “could” show up in videos.
My response was that, unlike a microphone or guitar that’s clearly visible, no artist will pick up a direct box off the floor in the heat of a video shoot to promote it. So I asked what else they could give us in exchange, and they had nothing to offer. We passed on the deal. Big company, but no return benefit. (Other services, including one of the biggest, tried similar ploys that ended with the same result.)
Another key part of the equation is patience. You can send gear to an artist and it can sometimes take years for them to come around. If artists such as top session players are busy, they may not be home long enough between gigs to get around to trying the toys you send. It’s super frustrating but part of the game.
In addition, sometimes gear gets lost or is given away to friends. Big-name artists (and sometimes engineers as well) are so inundated with gear that there usually needs to be a relationship to make it work.
I recall sending a pair of new products to noted studio engineer Bruce Swedien, who had earned huge notoriety as Michael Jackson’s engineer with “Thriller” and many other CDs that followed. He was already endorsing Radial so we knew each other.
After a period of time, I called to ask how he liked the new tools and he admitted to being so busy that he hadn’t had a chance to check them out. I replied, “Bruce, please take three minutes to fire one up, listen and compare, and then call me back.”
He agreed and about 15 minutes later he was back on the phone telling me “Peter, I can’t flipping believe it, these flipping things are amazing!” Note that I’ve used “flipping” as a stand-in term for a well-known expletive, and I’d not heard swearing like this since chatting with Les Paul at a trade show in New York!
Mental Gymnastics
Finally, there’s what I’ve come to call the “Chick Corea Effect.” (Also known as “Why is it that we always think the worst when faced with the unknown?”) Anyway, one day there was a message on my phone from Chick’s management team saying that they had a concern and wanted me to call immediately.
Upon putting down the receiver, my mind was racing. Chick is one of the most important keyboard players in the world and one of our top endorsees… What in heaven could be wrong? I gathered my courage and returned the call.
The person told me that management didn’t like the photos of Chick we were featuring on the website and wanted to send us replacements. Here I was, all stressed out, and there was really no problem at all. Now whenever my wife talks of some potential horror, I call it the “Chick Corea Effect.”