UK Avdert - Help Me...

[temp]

Hey all,

Just been commissioned to create an advert for EB/MM for UK digital TV. I've known a few players of a couple of years now (Jamie Humphries, Guthrie, Kotzen etc.), yet not being too familiar with the EB legacy, I'm a little green when it comes to knowing how EB portray themselves - both aesthetically and spiritually. If anyone, in very few succint words, can descrbe, or indeed provide a double-barrelled ethos of the how you think the company wish to be portrayed, please help me out.

I've already created a 10 second ad that portrays them in a a very coca-cola/sexy/skate/warhol culture type of genre - but alas, they don't like it. I feel the pond is a greater divide than I thought.

Give me some fodder.

...and I'll buy you multiple beers/pay you $30 per hour/sleep with you/love you semi-unconditionally/sing your creative praises all over the net.

Cheers guys n gals.

Russ x

 

[OrangeChannel]

Russ....

I find that EBMM is like the little engine that could. They're take no prisoners attitude towards customer service and accessibility is what drew me in, that was only a few months ago and I now have 3 JP sig 6's as of this afternoon. they craft a sick product, and stand behind it fully. And they're sweet dudes and dudettes to boot.

That's all.

Jon Z.
The OC

 

[temp]

Typo

****, I was so so so careful writing that message ('cos I'm a little inebriated) - and what happens? I spelt the title wrong. How embarrassing is that...

Cheers again. x

Read more Marx. Drink more Gin. Kiss more strangers.

 

[nobozos]

Where to begin?

Well, my experience is that EBMM is something that you gravitate to after you have tried everything else and found the pretenders wanting.

It's like the "grown ups" guitar. After you go through the stage of buying guitars for looks, and buying guitars because that's what your favorite artist plays, you start to buy guitars for quality and playability.

Music Man guitars are about quality. Ernie Ball does not manufacture a product for a customer. They build musical instruments, one at a time, for musicians.

Music Man is second to none in quality, and playability. Sure other manufacturers can offer the same quality,(PRS, Gibson, etc.)but Music Man offers that quality at half the price.

I will say that Music Man guitars are a "new classic". I predict that 20 years from now, a Music Man guitar built today will be highly sought after, as much as a 60s strat, or a "fretless wonder" Les Paul Custom.

People who care about tone, love the EBMM guitars.

There is something out there for everyone. Whether you play country, classic rock, jazz, blues, or death metal. Ernie ball makes guitars that will work for any of it, somtimes one guitar will nail it all.(Axis)


Quality, Quality, Quality! In every instrument.

 

[GWDavis28]

Russ,

I feel that Nobozos pretty much said exactly how I feel.

Nobozoz (I love that, I crack up everytime I type it) I have that same feeling that EB/MM's are the collectors future choice and the players present.

Look Fenders, Gibsons and such are mass produced, but EB/MM's are what the 50's Fender and Gibsons where instruments crafted for players.

Best of luck, hope it helps. If it doesn't give us a little bit more direction.

 

[NorM]

Greetings and welcome to the board. You came to the right place. I have eight of these things so I will share a couple of the phrases I have told other musicians.

This guitar is so comfortable and easy to play. After I play my Ernie ball for four hours, I'm ready to play for four more.

When I got my special ordered guitar home, right away it felt like an old friend.

Since I started playing Ernie Ball, When I go to the guitar store, I can't find another guitar I even want.

Sometimes I don't want to pick up my guitar 'cause if I do, I won't do anything else for the rest of the day.

These are the guitars I've sold in order to by an Ernie Ball.

If you save up and buy the one you really want, you will never be disappointed.

Posted by someone else on the board;
"PLAY BALL!!"
That may be a bit to American for your needs though.

In reference to one of my EBMM's that I pictured:
Best. Guitar. Ever.
and
That guitar is so sweeeeeet!!

Told to me by another guitar player:
Dude, You really inspired me!
And
I've never even seen one of those except in a musician's friend catalog.
And
I can't play that.

In reference to someone else's guitar:
Your guitar sucks.

Inappropriate:
How many Balls do you have?
And
Show me how the knobs on your Ball Works.
And
String up your Ball for you G'vner?
And
Your Ball's got a whammy.
And
Your Ball's small enough to ride in the overhead compartment .
U get the idea,

In reference to the volume pedal:
Ernie Ball Volume Hammer (These things are tough)
I've had mine for 10 years and all it has ever done is work.

What I think Ernie Ball's customer service slogan is:
"The deal is not over until the customer is dead.

A quote from Leslie Neilson in one of the Police Squad movies (That makes me smile):
"When I see four guys in the park dressed in sheets stabbing someone, I shoot the bastards… That's my policy"
Turns out they were Shakespeareian actors. But hey! A policy is a policy. I'm thinking about having a plaque made for my office that says that.

Be sure and ask for information on the upcoming 20th anniversary Silhouette. That should inspire you.

 

[koogie2k]

Norm and nobozos hit it on the head....use that cause there is no need for more!

Except....the best guitars I have ever played and the service is best in the world!

 

[Jimi D]

I always liked the "Play something different." catch phrase they used in the old Axis adverts... Something like "Find your own Tone." kind of appeals to me to, but I like to keep things simple...

 

[kbaim]

Well, the only eb guitar ad I've seen since I've played and owned eb guitars (9/02), has been in a british guitar magazine.

It shows the entire family of eb guitars superimposed on the US. The US is colored like the American flag. And I can't remember what the tag line was.

Half the time I see ads for their strings, I don't understand the copy. Probably my fault for being over 40 (43 on monday).

I'd go with something like "Take Your Playing To The Next Level".
(If it's not already used)

It's what we all want.

KEITH

 

[lock-ny]

you guys all forgot that Musicman Guitars are a players guitar, guys who are real players use these guitars -

 

[OrangeChannel]

Keith...happy early B Day man!

 

[nobozos]

Okay, how about,

"One Ball is never enough"

"A Ball in the hand is worth 2 Gibsons and a PRS."

"I'd put my Balls up against a Fender any day!"

 

[kbaim]

Keith...happy early B Day man!

Thanks OC
KEITH

 

[SGMan88]

Ya...norm and nobozoz definitely hit the nail right on the head. Well put guys

 

[nobozos]

Or these:

"You can look at my Balls, but you'll have to play with your own."

"I got my Ball stuck in the trailer!"

"My Balls never break a G-string"

 

[OrangeChannel]

Ha! Nobozos! That rules...

How about "Nobody can touch the flawless finish on my Balls."

 

[lostrebel]

"I love to play with my Balls"

 

[kbaim]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and surmise that EB doesn't exactly enjoy the testicle references.

Maybe we should have a moratorium on the nutsack stuff?

We were asked for our input on a serious matter...advertising ideas for the guitars we love that we never see advertised.

Let's use this opportunity to contribute ideas and not just jokes.

Geesh, sounding a bit like a mod

KEITH

 

[nobozos]

Sorry man, but I couldn't resist the opportunity. I did post a serious reply earlier that explained how I really felt about the Music Man company. I just thought I'd have a little fun with it.

I think the fact that you don't see Ernie Ball Music Man guitars aggressively advertised is actually a part of the company's charm.

The type of advertisement that they already do is the most effective, I think. Advertising such as T-shirts, ball caps, and other apparel that players buy and wear. I also think that the best advertising is seeing that EBMM is the choice of many professional musicians.

Advertising is by definition a game of numbers used to get the maximum amount of people to be exposed to a company to broaden the customer base. As I stated in the earlier post, to this point, Ernie Ball has been a manufacturer that you could count on for quality, not quantity.

The traditional downfall of companies that were once great is when they realize that they are making the best thing out there.
Once the customer base and demand for the product expands beyond the company's capacity to meet that demand, usually what happens is that the company uses different productions methods, and different suppliers that meet their new needs. As a result, quality suffers. That is why old Gibsons and Fenders are worth more money than anything they have made in the last 25 years, because the old ones were built right.

There is always a struggle in any company between the people trying to make the most return off an investment, and the people that are actually trying to produce the best possible product for the customer. Once the "Bean Counters" start winning the arguements, the company ceases to be what it once was.

Bottom line, any Ernie Ball ad should be simple and straight to the point. A Picture of a great looking EBMM with a phrase under it. Something like, "The working musicians choice." Then maybe some testemonials from the people who play them.

 

[lostrebel]

Sorry, I admit i got a alittle caught up in the moment . As far as an actual ad, i could not agree more with the what nobozos just said.