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Let's Play Jeopardy! Here's your host, Alex Trebek

Rating: 6 votes, 5.00 average.
Contestant #3: "I'll take Internet Forums for $200, Alex."

Alex Trebek: "ToneRite, Blue Chip Picks and Gibson's 120th Anniversary F5 mandolin."

Contestant #3: "Name three products garnering publicity and benefiting beyond their wildest dreams on the Mandolin Cafe forum."

Alex Trebek: "That's correct! Please continue"

I've been wanting to say this for a long time. It's clear strong negative opinions that keep getting voiced over and over almost always result in the opposite of that which is desired. Those wishing to trash something ultimately end up as the champion of what they dislike.

That product, band or service some try so hard to cut down and turn into a negative end up helping it. A lot. Step back and watch, stop posting, read more, observe. It's easy to see. A common marketing saying is there is no such thing as bad publicity. Boy, do we deliver.

We're just one forum that made ToneRite one of the most talked about accessories of the past two years. What could have been a marginally used product with little exposure was handed more free marketing and chatter than possible to purchase.

Others like Blue Chip picks were rightly prospering and didn't need our help (disclaimer: long-time user) but got a boost beyond their dreams. Company owner told us the Cafe has one of the three largest and longest ongoing discussions about them on the global internet. All that negative swirling around with all that positive combine to form powerful marketing.

Gibson now finds itself the lucky recipient of more attention than they could wish for. What might have been a few high end mandolins from a company that didn't even generate a press release is slowly being made into a discussion seen by tens of thousands. Those mandolins will sell regardless of opinion, more so now. More eyes = more potential buyers.

Remember the Ira and Charlie Louvin Satan Is Real Martin Guitar? Howls of protest on internet forums--this one included--yet the company sold all 50 the first day of the NAMM Show.

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Remember the band Strung Like A Horse? Of course you do. An unheard of band with a mildly controversial video that turned a single post into 71 replies and 8,500+ views (predicted to top 10K with this post). Any bluegrass band on the planet would love to get that kind of attention. They won't.

It's a beautiful thing, the internet. For every reaction, a counter-reaction. For every positive a negative. For every negative a positive. It feeds itself and it's a very well fed beast. I continue to be amazed at how many people help the very companies and organizations they wish to hinder. It will continue, it cannot be stopped.

Would love to share more observations but I'm off to see what all the fuss is about The Band Perry. Can't say I've ever heard their music. That's about to change.

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Updated Nov-12-2014 at 6:30pm by Scott Tichenor

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General Mandolin Comments

Comments

  1. JeffD's Avatar
    Well said.
  2. mandolinfox's Avatar
    I followed the links for Strung Like A Horse and The Band Perry before realizing that Scott had tricked me into proving his point. You are one sly fox, Mr. Tichenor!
  3. sblock's Avatar
    I'm pretty sure that The Band Perry plays "Satan is Real" Martin guitars and "120th Anniversary" Gibson mandolins using BlueChip picks. They developed their distinctive band sound, of course, by using ToneRites on these instruments, and performing covers of "Strung Like A Horse" songs.
  4. jmagill's Avatar
    It's a different product, but here's a timely article that appeared today on the NPR website that says pretty much the same thing – all publicity is good.