"We're launching with a monumental campaign"

[ShotgunBlues1978]

I went to my local BB to do some Christmas shopping and Chinese Democracy was set up the same way as it was on Nov 23. with the tower of CD's and vinyl on top. Saw a few people  who did not strike me as GNR fans looking at the display a bit curiously. They still had CD at each checkout counter. But they did take away an encap that was there last month devoted to CD and older albums. Still no posters up or any GNR playing. Guess that is better than some of the stories I've read hare about some BB taking down a lot more stuff than that.

Well, at this point, in the US selling the album is Best Buy's problem moreso than UMG or GNR's.  UMG has already been paid and recouped their costs in this market, and they don't have a great deal of incentive to promote the album further until the exclusive deal ends.  If selling this album was one of Best Buy's top priorities, they'd be playing it nonstop over the PA system and advertising it more prominently. 

As Jarmo said, it's all about central decisions.  If Best Buy corporate said "all stores must play this album over the PA" then that's what happens.  If not, it won't happen.  But they are the ones who paid $14 million one way for the album so you would think they'd be making a better effort to sell it.  Hopefully once the Better video comes out, they'll start playing it on their TV's on a loop, and start playing it on their overhead system

[Andy-k]

I think stuff's starting to happen.
Today a Chinese Democracy commercial aired an Norwegian Tv2, it's been airing all night ! 

edit: Damn I was late, haha.. 
The commercial aired right after the Norwegian handball team had won they're semi-final, 1/4 of our nation's population usually watch those games !!

Haha finally I found a reason to watch handball! 

[The Prez]

It's a shame! I love GN'R but the campaign for Chinese Democracy is a joke. Maybe it's not the band's fault but it's a fact.

Rolling Stone is sadly correct in below article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/18/why-black-ice-beat-chinese-democracy-the-tale-of-wal-mart-vs-best-buy/

[jarmo]

From the Q&A sessions Axl did last month:

Axl: There were imo well thought out plans and strategies that unfortunately were ignored once we were pressing CD?s. There will be proper interviews and some are already scheduled for much later intentionally. God idea, bad?we?ll see. I?m happy the record?s out the rest? one nightmare at a time.





/jarmo

[The Prez]

From the Q&A sessions Axl did last month:

Axl: There were imo well thought out plans and strategies that unfortunately were ignored once we were pressing CD?s. There will be proper interviews and some are already scheduled for much later intentionally. God idea, bad?we?ll see. I?m happy the record?s out the rest? one nightmare at a time.





/jarmo

LOL, great statement from the Axl 'I?m happy the record?s out the rest? one nightmare at a time.'
It's hard to be guns fan, maybe it's harder to be Axl Rose...shit!   
It can only become 'BETTER' !
 

[JDA]

I was sad to see, last week, when I went into Best Buy the GN'R tower was no longer there.  In fact, is was easier to find  the GH GN'R cd than Chinese Democracy.  I really lost some respect for Best Buy during this whole "monumental camaign" launching. 

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

So I logged into AIM, and the advertising box on top of the window had the familiar Guns N' Roses billboard we have all come to know and love.  And when I rolled over, it took me to the Best Buy page.

Pretty neat.

[GNR4L]

I still blame the record company, I know it took Axl along time to release Chinese Democracy and was expensive to make.  I just don't see it from their point of view, I mean here is the most anticipated record release that there will ever be and they just ingore it.  They way Axl said in the Q&A they screwed him over, It's not really Best Buy's fault they really had nothing to work with.  The timming is off and there will probaly be late promotion on the record.  Hopefully  a year from now we won't be talking about this.

[D]

Why spend money promoting something u already made a profit on?

The label are so happy they turned a profit, they probably are happy with it and see no reason to further promote it seeing as they really stand to gain nothing else.


once the BB deal expires, U will see a monumental campaign.

This could still turn out to be pretty genius.

[Layne Staley's Sunglasses]

To make future profits?

Like many others have said on this forum, this album will have a long shelf life.  It's been selling through word of mouth pretty much. 

[XxWickeds10xX]

once the BB deal expires, U will see a monumental campaign.

When does that deal expire?

[Gaymo, the Hobbit]

I think 6 month from the release date on

[BKinNYC]

A video, tour, or interview is hardly "monumental."  I think everyone needs to temper their expectations a bit.  I'm not really sure what everyone's expecting.

It might be monumental for this band, but normal in the rest of the music world.

[TomFriend]

True enough.

The frontman not putting in a single formal interview or public appearance in support of an album that took him over a decade to make seems pretty monumental to me. 

[jarmo]

You might wanna check out the first post again.

The monumental campaign refers to something that came from Best Buy. It was developed by them.




/jarmo

[crow316]

But the "we" in the "we're launching" refers to GNR management.

[jarmo]

But the "we" in the "we're launching" refers to GNR management.

Not necessarily just management.

They're not the one selling the albums in their stores.

Don't you think it would be weird to have a promotional campaign that had nothing to do with the retailer who sells the albums and who developed the campaign?




/jarmo

[adman2374]

But the "we" in the "we're launching" refers to GNR management.

Not necessarily just management.

They're not the one selling the albums in their stores.

Don't you think it would be weird to have a promotional campaign that had nothing to do with the retailer who sells the albums and who developed the campaign?




/jarmo

What the hell are you talking about? That statement was put out by Azoff. The campaign was done by gnr and bb. i think it would be weird if gnr had no say on how their own album was marketed, especially gnr and we all know they have a lot of say on how their "brand" is expressed/sold to the public. i dont know why you dont think gnr are responsible for anything that doesnt turn out as well as we all hoped it should.....*head scratch*

[-Rob-]

i can honestly say that i've only been in a Best Buy once since the album release - and that's before i realized just how pathetic their marketing approach was going to be for this album. i used to buy cds there weekly, but moving forward, i will do my cd / electronics shopping at either a Circuit City or my local FYE.

i am personally outraged at their incompetence and i'd love to see them fucked over the same way they did this band. i mean, do they even realize this is 10 years of a man's life invested here? it'd be bad enough for them to do this to any band. but the most anticipated album ever?! it's fucking unexcusable!

i don't doubt for a second had this album received the promotion it deserved, US sales would be somewhere between 2-3 million at this point. guaranteed! if anyone else is as pissed off as i am about this lacadazical approach put forth by BB, i think you should re-consider prior to giving them any of your business ever again.

[Eazy E]

i don't doubt for a second had this album received the promotion it deserved, US sales would be somewhere between 2-3 million at this point. guaranteed!

The best selling album of the year only sold a little over 2 million... and you think GN'R would be higher than that in only 5 weeks with different promotion?