Sorry this photo is a little fuzzy...I took it with a camera-phone at a record store. Beneath the fuzz is probably the best sticker I've ever seen on a commercial music product. In case you can't read it, it says: Nordic Folk Metal Comeback of the Year.Now, record stickering deserves its own post, and I'm sure I'll do one in the near future on the subject...but in the meantime, let's give this one some thought. Stickers, I thought, were designed to make people who normally wouldn't buy the album buy the album. They are designed to widen your audience. Well, this thing has the opposite effect, and brilliantly so! Think about it as a dialog between the sticker and the potential consumer:
Consumer: I like metal.
Sticker: Do you like Nordic metal?
Consumer: I do like Nordic metal.
Sticker: Do you like Nordic folk metal?
Consumer: I do, but really only bands from the classic Nordic folk metal renaissance that happened a few years ago.
Sticker: Well, do I have an album for you. Remember Vintersorg?
Consumer: Didn't they break up?
Sticker: They came back.
I love this sticker. By insuring the narrowest possible audience for their release, this band/record company will be guaranteed the CD will only fall into the hands of those truly worthy and capable of understanding the magic therein. That is, if people read stickers on CDs/albums/etc. Do they?
1 comment:
On the other hand, one might argue that the very esoteric nature of this sticker might intrigue the buyer; what other nordic folk metal have I missed? Is this going to come up at the water cooler at work (again) and I will have missed the boat? &c. This is a brilliant marketing ploy, but targeted to the most intrepid potential listeners. To your point, most people will miss it entirely. But that is what makes it special for those who don't.
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