Just forget the words and sing along

Saturday, April 17, 2004

So, as part of my promotions and marketing class, I joined CFCW's Country Club as part of my research. Today, I got my introductory package in the mail, which consisted of a CFCW key chain, my first issue of the Country Club newsletter, and a CFCW sticker. I looked at that sticker and thought about it for a while.

You know, the sticker is one of the simpliest, easiest, and most common radio station promotion. Just slap your logo on a sticker and give it out willy-nilly. So simple and easy. I was visiting radio stations for an assignment, and I spoke with the promotions director at CISN Country. They made a sticker featuring the CISN logo and the "I Love Alberta Beef" logo. Most successful campaign in the station's history! It's so simple, so common, yet always so successful.

So I've been thinking about this. Many moons ago, Mr. Anderson designed quite a nifty Chaos in a Box logo for me. To promote Chaos in a Box next semester, I would love to slap that logo on a couple hundred stickers and give them out around NAIT. Again, it'd be so easy to do.

Only problem is the cost. I know, as part of my promotions class, we're supposed to find sponsors and barter. But, I think in this case, it would be easier just to pay to have the stickers printed up. Really, what could I and NR92 offer a sticker company in exchange for stickers? Probably not much.

So, get maybe, 200 stickers made. Pass them out to people walking by when I'm doing my remotes in the South Lobby. Mom tells me that just about any graphic design company can print them up for about $0.50 per sticker, with discounts for the more you order. So, let's see here.... 200*$0.50 = $100. Hmm. Me thinks I need to think about this more.

But still, it'd be so cool!

And speaking of.... The other night, I finally watched American Idol, and it reminded me of a recent production assignment. We had to practice our music editing by splicing together 5 songs of a certain genre or artist we liked. I chose to do all Weird Al, but my very first, original idea was to splice together American Idol winners, Canadian Idol winners, Sugar Jones from Popstars, Velvet Empire from Popstars 2, and O-Town from Making the Band. Essentially, if it was the product of a TV show designed to manufacture the next big thing, it'd be in there.

I forget why I wanted to do this. I think I wanted to make some kind of statement about these incredibly artificial, made-for-TV pop acts. I mean, yeah, we all know that all pop music sounds the same and it's all so bland, but what really emphasises that is the fact that we have these TV shows. It really emphasises the manufacturing when we see it happen before our eyes. One hit wonder machines, that's all these TV shows are. Let's be honest. We haven't heard much out of Eden's Crush lately, have we?

(Eden's Crush was the creation from the American Popstars, for those joining us late.)

Anyway, soon I hope to try another music editing idea that's been bouncing around in my head. I think I've figured out a way to splice together Danny Elfman's Spider-Man theme and Michael Kamen's X-Men theme, and if I can pull it off, I think I'll have the opening piece for Chaos in a Box.

Next Issue..."And on both coasts we've got the record company machines, turning out hits on an assembly line."

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