Did I go to far? (1 Viewer)

[Mark_Mac]

Well I had fun doing it and Ill probably do it again this week. Im not hurting BestBuy or their customers. Besides I break the law all the time speading to BestBuy to buy the lastest releases.
Oh, hey Martin....Ill be going to the Bloomington, Illinois BestBuy this Sunday around noon. Maybe you should call and warn them.

 

[Jack Briggs]

I'm tired, hungry, and under deadline pressures to complete--of all things--some marketing materials I am writing for a telecommunications company's Website. I say this because I'm not in the best of form presently.

But, you know, everyone here--on both sides--is making a good point or two or three. All I ask from my weary vantage point is that you guys and gals remember that we're on the same side and treat each other accordingly.

My thinking is that it would be best to approach the managers of these b&m stores and ask them if these little flyers/cards may be placed in a high-traffic area. Don't sneak around. Take the high road and stay above board. Makes us all look better.

Solicitation rules are established for a purpose. But Mark's zeal and enthusiasm are commendable. Let's help make sure this energy is focused in the proper manner. No?

 

[Bill J]

I don't see wha You are in the store as a customer and the intent is not to take away sales from the store, you're simply trying to help people make a decision.

But what happens when there isn't a choice? When a full frame DVD is released you don't always have an option to buy a widescreen version (like Snow Dogs). If someone reads your card and agrees with it, the store would lose a sale.

I agree with Martin, you must ask the store owner before you try to pull something like this.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

This makes a lot more sense than sticking copies of Bernard Farber's "Anti-Letterschlocking" site around the store

 

[DaveF]

Im not sure what your talking about DaveF but the last thing I wanted to do was hassle someone.

Mark - wow, this thread really got going!
What I was thinking was that:
- if someone notices, then it's the staff that will have to pick the cards out of the DVDs.
- if a customer is irked by it, it's the grunt workers who will hear about it.
- since we're hearing the occaisional caution about not opening unfamiliar packages (Anthrax, mail-bombs, etc.) people might be unsettled by third-party materials in their purchases. And if so, they will complain to the min-wage workers about it.
I'm don't mean to put your actions down (I hope that was clear in my first post). But they may have unexpected negative consequences for other people, that you might want to consider.
That said, you're taking not-unreasonable action on an issue that you care about and I respect that.

 

[Mark_Mac]

Im a reasonable person and I agree the ideal solution will be to get approval first off. So, thats what i will attempt to do. I will call around to some of the bigger chains and explain our common concerns with lack of information and explain I have some material that may help the customer make a educated purchase. Ill tell them if there interested I can drop a sample off and if they approve I will supply more brochures, business cards, whatever they are comfortable with. Ill let you know the outcome.

- since we're hearing the occaisional caution about not opening unfamiliar packages (Anthrax, mail-bombs, etc.) people might be unsettled by third-party materials in their purchases. And if so, they will complain to the min-wage workers about it.

I just wanted to add Im not tampering with any DVD's. I put the card in the clear plastic strip that is part of the display case. This strip holds the DVD's in place and they also put price information here. It actually looks like it was placed their by BestBuy, so I dont feel anyone would be offended at all.

 

[Jeremy Illingworth]

The best tool to use (not that this would be something we could easily do) is to have two tvs side by side showing both versions. If you had one of those in every store, you might make a difference.

jeremy

 

[Mark_Mac]

Jeremy,

That would be the ideal situation and its too bad stores don't do this. This is another reason I like the business cards at widescreenadvocate, it clearly shows both samples of a scene from the Mummy. I still think a nicely designed widescreenadvocate.com T-shirt could be very effective.

 

[Eric M Jones]

I still think a nicely designed widescreenadvocate.com T-shirt could be very effective.

I hear ya Mark. I'm working on one, hope to have something soon. I'm tryng to aviod using screenshots so coming up with something has been difficult.

Any ideas?

-EJ

Widescreen Advocate

 

[JasenP]

Eric,

Perhaps you could use a picture you have taken yourself of a well-known landmark. You could use one of those panaramic disposable cameras and then chop off the sides in PhotoShop to illustrate our point on your t-shirt.

Just an idea....

 

[Malcolm R]

Take a copy of the painting "The Last Supper" and chop off a bunch of disciples on either side of Jesus.
Who needs the whole painting when the only frame you have is 4:3 !

 

[Mark_Mac]

Well I went back to Bestbuy and I didn't even really think about the widescreenadvocate cards that I had placed in the DVD section last week, I sure didn't think they would still be there. To my total surprise they were still there. I had placed 3 in different locations and 8 days later they are all still there and in the same spot. I cant image that a employee hasn't seen them as Im sure the DVD section is stocked often. I guess i didn't offend anyone after all.
I thought it was really cool!!

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Great work. This is exaclty the sort of thing that is intended for our materials. I have been really busy lately, so I have been unable to contact the studios/retailers about distributing our materials, but I have intended to all along. If someone can get me some contact info, I will be able to do it a lot sooner. I am also thinking of having a sign up list on WA, where people could sign up to distribute materials in certain locations.

If any of you have any other ideas about how to organize a campaign, please let me know.