-
ATTN Advertisers…Ron is on the money, save yourself a pile of $$$
-
[Ron Lindeboom] “Some of these companies are waking up to the fact that it’s a ridiculously expensive treadmill and are beginning to refuse to play. Bravo, me says.”
Good old supply and demand. Is part of the problem the fact that it’s an international show and our guys are competing for space with a shrinking dollar? i.e. Do the increases have the same bite to a German company paying in Euros? Probably not.
That’s not to deny that greed may be a factor, but that there may be other factors.
-
[Randall Raymond] “…there may be other factors.”
Oh, indeed there are. ;o)
Another factor is the fact that for many users, they can and do get quite enough of their information online to make their buying decisions.
Oh, it’s nice to walk through a hall and discover the unheard of heretofore gold nugget on the showfloor, but as I mentioned to Nick in my response to him, I am discovering new things almost daily on the Net. I think many people do and so their need for booth forays is likely less than some.
But the part I will always miss by not going anymore is the people. That was the part that both Kathlyn and I liked best. That we will miss.
…oh, and the opportunity to do the show stopper COW marketing ploy that I always wished I could pull off but the one which Kathlyn cringed whenever I mentioned it. What was that? Glad you asked, Randall. It was the ultimate COW schtick and involved hiring Las Vegas showgirls dressed in skin tight spandex orange and white cow spotted costumes with udders flailing as they walked down in the pelvic area. Cool, eh?
Oh, don’t like that one either, huh? Well, many didn’t and so I never did it but what a chuckle I get out of thinking of a few orange and white spotted showgirls walking around the NAB exhibit halls with “CreativeCOW.net” emblazoned on their backside.
Ever the ham,
Ron Lindeboom
-
[Ron Lindeboom] “Another factor is the fact that for many users, they can and do get quite enough of their information online to make their buying decisions.”
That’s certainly true of software, especially where a trial download is available. Software companies are better off spending ad money with the Cow – as long as you keep your rates fair…;-)
But from the shooter’s side it’s all about hardware. Personally, I wouldn’t buy an 8k tripod without TRYING it and every other tripod in that range. There’s a long list that needs hands-on experience, and you know it and cannot (and never will be able) to provide that experience here.
-
[Ron Lindeboom] “…oh, and the opportunity to do the show stopper COW marketing ploy that I always wished I could pull off but the one which Kathlyn cringed whenever I mentioned it. What was that? Glad you asked, Randall. It was the ultimate COW schtick and involved hiring Las Vegas showgirls dressed in skin tight spandex orange and white cow spotted costumes with udders flailing as they walked down in the pelvic area. Cool, eh?”
Frankly, I find that much more appealing than brown shirts and a goose step in trying to align the troops behind your admitted hatred of the NAB. It’s so…unbecoming. Stay positive, dude – you’ve got your knickers in a knot. You’re like the divorced guy trying to get all his friends to hate his ex. That ax-grinding gets old in a hurry.
Are you harming your business here? Now that’s a topic for discussion.
-
[Ron Lindeboom] “thinking of a few orange and white spotted showgirls walking around the NAB exhibit halls with “CreativeCOW.net” emblazoned on their backside.”
You could have at least done posters for us to hang in our offices. And come to think of it, why not still do that? I’ll bet that a crazy COW poster that caters to both genders would be a hit. I’m not a poster guy but I would hang the right poster. We have COW mouse pads on all of the computers.
As for the cost of NAB Vegas rooms, it’s the same story any place that people gather. The wife and I used to go to Sturgis for the annual Harley Rally. When we had a friend living there, it was a fun week at a friend’s house. When the friend moved away and we had to pay $250 a night for a $34 room at the Comfort Inn, we decided that $1500 was just too much.
What gets me is the “Special NAB Room Rates”. When my wife’s cousin worked ay the Riviera, she would attach us to a wedding party and we got the normal price of about $60 a night. That I can live with.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1. -
[Nick Griffin] “Apple and FCP may not need NAB now, but they certainly benefited from the visibility and credibility of the show when just starting out.”
I think that since the discussion somehow morphed from NAB Pro vs Con to NAB vs CreativeCow.net, it will be difficult to have a truly objective discussion from this point forward.
But I am glad to see you chiming in, Nick.
TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,Creative Cow Host,
Author/Trainer
http://www.focalpress.com
http://www.classondemand.net -
[Randall Raymond] “That’s certainly true of software, especially where a trial download is available. Software companies are better off spending ad money with the Cow – as long as you keep your rates fair…;-)
But from the shooter’s side it’s all about hardware. Personally, I wouldn’t buy an 8k tripod without TRYING it and every other tripod in that range. There’s a long list that needs hands-on experience, and you know it and cannot (and never will be able) to provide that experience here.”
I would agree on both points, Randall.
In point one, I like your line of reasoning, I like it a lot. ;o)
On point two, you outline a valid reason to go to NAB. If I were a shooter, I’d go if I was in the market for a camera. This, as I know I could see all of them in one place. I know that while I may not get to put my hands on any of them for any real length of time, still it will exceed the amount I could get my hands on them online. ;o)
Local dealers can fill in for some users but only to a point, as I know few dealers that carry everything that you see on the floor at NAB. (Well, except for the New York City mega-dealers and not everyone feels comfortable working with them as they can have a meat market mentality where the customer is 1/10th as important as the wallet they bring with them — as Steve Wargo spells out in one of his most react posts.)
Ron Lindeboom
-
[Randall Raymond] “Frankly, I find that much more appealing than brown shirts and a goose step in trying to align the troops behind your admitted hatred of the NAB. It’s so…unbecoming. Stay positive, dude – you’ve got your knickers in a knot. You’re like the divorced guy trying to get all his friends to hate his ex. That ax-grinding gets old in a hurry. Are you harming your business here? Now that’s a topic for discussion.”
I am not asking anyone to agree with me, Randall. I am merely saying that the knee-jerk belief that NAB is a necessity for everyone to attend is pure bull and is not based on fact or always based on good business sense. There are many valid reasons for some companies and people to attend, while there are many other compelling reasons for people to assess their own situation and decide that it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Perpetuating the propaganda that this show is a “necessity” is crapola of the highest order and if I am banging my drum harder than may seem prudent in your opinion, it is because it’s a new discussion in this industry. (Please don’t try to tell me it’s an old one because you can’t produce ANY threads anywhere (before leading into this year’s NAB 2008) in our near million and a half posts over the last almost eight years that would show it to be an old argument.) I am merely trying to get people to think and consider their own situations, either as a vendor or as an attendee.
Don’t be a lemming … think. That’s my real point. If it makes sense FOR YOU to go, then by all means, go. But if you do the math and it doesn’t make sense, then don’t go.
I resent your fascist reference — especially as I was just showing facts substatiated by a number of links and other proofs as to why NAB had become so expensive that major companies have started dropping out. You are the one who took it into the flag raising for NAB and championing the Cult of Personality as to why it is such a venerable thing. Me, I was merely talking numbers.
Your opinion is fine but when you start calling me a fascist and a Nazi, you only show that your arguments have so little merit that the numbers can’t back your opinions and so you have to resort to childish remarks like that.
And yes, I have considered that my opinions may hurt my business. I have given it a LOT of thought. But someone has to stand up to the money-grubbers at NAB who think that even in a bad economy with shrinking prospects and lower traffic figures, that they can give healthy price increases anyway.
It is a matter of principle and I have never run from that kind of fight — even if it costs me business.
I personally believe that there was a time when it made sense for Apple and Avid to go, for some companies it still makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense for everyone. That is the argument that I am making, if you don’t like that and can’t use tactics any deeper than to disparage my character by your juvenile rantings about brownshirts and such, I have nothing more to say to you.
After all, Dear Ole Sainted Dad taught me long ago that you should never enter a battle of wits with an unarmed man.
Ron Lindeboom
-
[Ron Lindeboom] “I am not asking anyone to agree with me, Randall. I am merely saying that the knee-jerk belief that NAB is a necessity for everyone to attend is pure bull and is not based on fact or always based on good business sense. There are many valid reasons for some companies and people to attend, while there are many other compelling reasons for people to assess their own situation and decide that it doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Perpetuating the propaganda that this show is a “necessity” is crapola of the highest order”
Having all those products and services under one roof is a convenience – ‘necessity’ is probably not the best word. Other shows have tried to replicate the NAB and have failed – even with lower rates being offered. The NAB is THE show for the industry and exhibitors pay a premium for being there.
You have your own ‘aisle traffic’ here at the Cow which many of your advertisers are happy to tap into to. The COW is THE forum for the industry. Maybe, you’re charging too little.
-
“Having all those products and services under one roof is a convenience”
I don’t know how convenient it is to take several days off of work (especially if you’re the owner), fly to Vegas, stay in an overpriced room (even by Vegas standards) and then walk across 1,500 square miles of floor to “see” new products.
I am of the opinion that if you really NEEDED a particular product, you would seek it out through conventional channels. I have never seen anything on the NAB floor that I didn’t know existed and was so crucial to my business model that I was thanking my lucky stars I attended the show. Sure new product debut there, but they are promptly covered at length on the web like every other product so where’s the big advantage?
Maybe I’m wrong, but NAB always seemed more suited towards people who don’t want to spend time researching products (which is supremely penny wise, pound foolish if NAB is your big time-saving alternative) or perhaps are looking for “cool toys” or to see the “hot” new products. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but you can’t fault the people and companies who won’t shell out major bucks to participate in that circus.
As for NAB being THE even of our industry, that is debatable as well. What about SIGGRAPH? Or DV Expo, etc.? Sure they aren’t freakin’ HUGE shows with celebrity keynotes, but from my perspective they are much more finely tuned to our industry. Case in point – will I purchase a $5m broadcast amplifier, video helicopter or cherry picker? Doubtful, and a large chunk of NAB is dedicated to this type of major equipment.
I am firmly in Ron’s camp on this one.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up