FMIC's Marketing of Jackson

[Venomboy]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

On the positive side, a store in my area, Guitar Showcase, is now carrying Jacksons for the first time ever. All they have is Japanese models, but it's a start.

And the Guitar Center in my area had some USA Jacksons as well...they haven't had many lately.

[xenophobe]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

I don't know if they're ever going to produce any new 3Dfx products, but 3Dfx killed themselves by becoming a card manufacturer (I think they bought out Orchid, or some other hardward manufacturer) and stopped all the other companies that they were allied with that used the voodoo chips, and turned them all into competitors.

3Dfx was about to go into bankrupt, and nVidia, in terms of the purchase, agreed to continue writing driver support for 3Dfx.

Unfortunately, another multimedia company had a superior product and still died. Aureal, a 3D audio technology chip manufacturer, wasn't so lucky, and nobody bought them. I was hoping Diamond would, and that was the rumor, but I guess an agreement was never reached. Their 3D Audio technology was superior to Creative Lab's UAX, or whatever...

Anyways, that all has nothing to do with Jacksons.

That AD isn't misleading. It's showing all the performers that have used Jacksons live and in the studio... what's wrong with that? As ANY of those artists, and they'll probably say that they loved their Jacksons, regardless of what brand they might currently play.

[xenophobe]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

Whoa... I was just at Guitar Showcase earlier... only stopped in the consignment shop. I was complaining to them a few months before that if they had US Jacksons, I'd actually consider buying them... but their prices will suck.

[Black Mariah]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

Kevin built the ad, and as he's stated before the "endorsement" with Marty Friedman wasn't a "real" endorsement. More like "We'll give you cheap and/or free stuff as long as you play it, but we won't hold you to it."

MF/GC are definitely NOT risk takers. They buy/advertise for what they think will sell a lot. The number of guitars in a catalog is by no means an indication of a companies current status. Remember the full page of J/C guitars in the MF catalog RIGHT BEFORE the company was sold?

[Luke]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

Originally posted by xenophobe:
Look at the brits, they're finally getting USA Select stuff at decent prices... looks like fender is being busy setting up dealers right now... musicians friend will soon follow I bet...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Man, we're finally getting all Jacksons at decent prices!

Here's a extract from a Brit Guitar Shop's website:

From www.PercyPriors.co.uk[/I]

Jackson DK2 Rock Guitar

Dinky body styling with sharkfin fingerboard inlays and Floyd Rose tremolo. Also available in left-handed version.

* Poplar body with flame maple veneer
* Bolt-on rock maple neck
* Bound rosewood fingerboard
* 25.5 in./24-fret scale
* JT580LP bridge
* Duncan Design SC101 neck pick-up (s)
* Duncan Design 102B bridge pick-up (h)
* Duncan Design SC101 middle pick-up (s)
* 5-way slotted, volume and tone controls
* Chrome hardware
* Choice of three solid finishes: black, deep metallic violet or dark metallic red
* Transparent red, blue and amber sunburst finishes also available (add £40.00)
* Graphic finishes: Eerie Dess Swirl, Hot Rod Flames (add £100.00)

For further information visit the Jackson website:
www.jacksonguitars.com or call us on 01494 443418.

Our Price: £699.00

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thats the kinda RRPs we face at the moment =\ Now thankfully, the RRP on a DK2 is £399, but I still expect to pay something like £100 for the Graphic finishes. =S

[ March 02, 2003, 05:45 AM: Message edited by: Luke ]

[jackson1]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

I just realized i saw something special the other day for the first time in many years here in Denmark. I walked by one of the local music stores (the leading one here), and the windows were packed with new import Jacksons! And they were put on sale with an OK discount too! I don't know what it means, but it's a rare sight for sure. Dinky, Soloist, Kelly, Rhoads and maybe a Warrior was there.
Either they are cleaning out old stock as a last farewell or Fender / Jackson has suddenly showed them some attention...

[shreddermon]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

The MF catalog is not a good indication of FMIC's marketing efforts with J/C. Or any other company, for that matter. [img]graemlins/eyes.gif[/img]

Advertising in guitar mags is up, dealer outreach is happening (i.e., current Fender dealers), expected new stuff at summer NAMM, etc. As to endorsers, IMHO Jackson's better off w/out Mustaine. Those resources could be better used bag someone(s) who doesn't have Dave's baggage. Perhaps someone more mainstream. Besides, gotta look at the long-term horizon. It's gonna take a lot more than a few months. Too soon to tell.

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

MF has nothing to do with Fender marketing....the past 3 or 4 MF catalogs only had a couple of Jacksons. Some of the GC's around Dallas area only carried a handful of Jacksons (albeit mostly imports) and this was pre acquisition by Fender. Perhaps there was an availability factor even before the purchase or perhaps CG/MF figure they can turn more Ibanez, Schecter, ESP's and BC' Rich products than they can Jackson.

Let's face it..Jacksons previous website wasn't updated frequently with the exception of KE's news section and mother of all info page...Jackson's marketing has always sucked if you ask me. Jackson is a word of mouth product.

I suppose a chime in from the dealers (Matt OSG, Lloyd et al) would be a good way to see how things are going from a business perspective with Fender

[Inazone]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

I don't put much stock in MF/GC when it comes to advertising quality products. How many Hamer or Dean guitars do you see in the MF catalog? Usually a couple of Deans, rarely a Hamer, never more than about a third of a page though. I think that certain brands attract buyers with a different mindset. From everything that I gather in reading these forums every day, Jackson players (and Dean, Hamer, Carvin, GMP, etc.) are far less interested in the absolute cheapest deal or "flavor of the month" guitar than they are with finding a quality instrument from a reliable dealer. You always see OSG, GuitarXpress, DCGL and a handful of other respected dealers mentioned here, with people far more interested in ordering a guitar from any of them than counting on Guitar Center or another chain store to come through with the guitar they want AND the customer service to back the product.

Of the few flaws I've seen on new Jacksons, the vast majority could have been prevented if the dealer had so much as lifted a finger to take care of the guitar while it was out on the sales floor. Hopefully, FMIC is going to get new Jacksons out to the dealers that provide the best overall service, both before and after the sale, not just the superstores and big catalogs.

[xenophobe]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

If anything the current "Fender OWNS MF" catalog (by that I mean, look at how many Fenders are in there), I'm willing to bet that once FMIC gets all the dealers settled, figures out what they're going to do to the import line, and what's gonna happen to the USA line, you'll see a page or three of Jacksons in MF. It's just too soon to tell. The MF catalog you see today was probably already ready for the printer by the time the Jackson/FMIC acquisition was publicly announced.

[slayer]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

I also agree with not looking to MF/GC for the Flavor of the month guitar. I look for quality-price and the 3 companies that do it for me are Jackson USA-Carvin USA-Hamer USA, all 3 have awsome guitars for moderate pricing, can`t go wrong with either of them. Jack.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

OK, great discussion guys, was just curious to hear your thoughts.

I hear what some of you are saying about Mustaine. What's he doing these days anyway??? Actually, Dave never really got paid to play Jackson. Dave, Marty, Scott Ian and Phil Colen just get a piece of the action on each of their signature series models sold.

Whether we want to admit it or not, C/J was built on EVH playing Charvel parts and then Randy Rhoads, Robbin Crosby, Warren DiMartini, George Lynch, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick, etc.... I think it's more important that Jackson get ahold of hot new players like Alexi Laiho than to hold onto guys sitting on their butts like Mustaine.(Can't believe anyone wants to still endorse EVH).

I guess we need more time to see what's really going to happen.

[xenophobe]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

Greg, sure when I was young, there was some ooh and ahh factor involved with who was playing USA Charvels and Jacksons, but mostly it was the "non-traditional" look, feel and sound that these guitars offered in the 80's. At least for me. I didn't want a Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton special, I wanted a ripping metal machine, and Charvels, Jacksons and BC Rich were what I had dreamed of owning.

As for MF, wait till at least till the end of summer to judge what Fender marketing will be like. Advertising campaigns take months to develop and more to fully implement. What may be a simple one page ad and a one line slogan might seem like a no-brainer, but a lot of thought actually goes into much of that.

Then again, sometimes it doesn't. [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[IrfaanSE801]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

Alexi Laiho= [img]graemlins/notworthy.gif[/img] =big mistake on Fender's part. Still kinda pissed bout that one....

[Sephiroth]

Re: FMIC\'s Marketing of Jackson

I asked as local Fender dealer about Jacksons, and he said that he just doesn't understand why he hasn't gotten any Jacksons from them.