Nickleback...

DISCLAIMER THIS POST WAS WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO NICKELBACK

If you lived in the U.S. or Canada during the 2000's it's nearly impossible that you've never listened to or at least heard of the Canadian rock band Nickelback. Headlined by Chad Kroeger, a blonde Jesus/Nicholas Cage lookalike, they dominated the airwaves for nearly a decade after releasing Silver Side Up in 2001. This album featured their first and also biggest hit song "How You Remind Me", which has since been named as the most played song of 2002 with over 1.2 million radio spins. Silver Side Up has since sold 8 million copies worldwide and was certified 6x platinum in the U.S. and 8x platinum in Canada. Nickelback went on to sell more than 50 million albums and was named by Billboard magazine as the most successful rock band of the decade.

While having such an overwhelming amount of commercial success, Nickelback has also become one of the most hated bands of all-time. In my experience, it's gotten to the point that even the passing mention of the name Nickelback or Chad Kroger will almost instantly induce hysterical laughter or violent dry-heaving.

Ok, I guess that's a bit of an over exaggeration (the dry-heaving), but it's not far from the truth. When I mentioned to some of my fellow students I was planning to write an entire blog post about Nickelback most of them were appalled at the idea or thought it was a joke.

How can such a commercially successful band with so many hit songs be so synonymous with universal hate? I chock it up to three factors: lyrics & subject matter, general appearance, and finally they may just be too "standard".

Just briefly skim through the lyrics for songs like "Rockstar", "S.E.X.", "Next Contestant", or "Something in Your Mouth" and you'll have a pretty good understanding of Nickleback's music. Most of Nickelback's lyrics seem to be based on a simple and played-out formula of girls, wild parties, and being a general tough guy. Unfortunately, Nickelback often can't even make this simple formula for success seem genuine. Nickelback's lack of lyrical depth and storytelling ability is great for an audience of 7th graders who wear plaid shorts, AXE, and puka shell necklaces, but for a wider audience they fall short.

Among the many complaints people have about Nickelback, a common gripe is that people just can't stand how they look. Maybe it's Kroeger's ramen noodle-esque hair and terrible goatee or the others band members penchant for hair-gel and leather jackets, but there is something about the way that Nickelback looks that people just love to hate.

Finally, the most conclusive evidence for why Nickelback is so universally hated comes from Finland. A Finish student compile a list of reviews published in Finland from 2000 to 2014 and determined that critics despise Nickelback because they fail to separate themselves from other bands. Nickelback instead has positioned themselves as an extremely average band and more of an industry standard in the pop-rock genre.

The Four P's of Alpine Ski Marketing

As the first snow of the year falls in Bozeman, I begin to look forward to the coming ski season and dream of "getting pitted in some gnarly blower," " tossing some steezy airs," and "hucking some naty bangers."

Made a short edit of the first two days of the new year skiing Lost Trail. A couple of great days with great people. @jonathanwfinch @kylefinch52 @peanutbrittle7 #armada #smithoptics #saga #losttrail #dakine #lange #pow #gopro #gopro4black #hookit #ski

A video posted by Austin Finch (@finch.austin) on Jan 3, 2015 at 12:30pm PST

I have recently begun the search for a couple of new sets of skis, and in the process noticed a few interesting things about the way that skis are marketed. Most all skis cost around the same amount. In some cases, it's actually the lack of traditional marketing and advertising that draw people to certain skis. For these reasons, I've decided to dig a little deeper into the marketing of alpine skis.

Product
In the alpine ski market there are many different ways to separate your product from those of you competitors. The first of these is in the primary use of your ski. With so many different options; ranging from all-mountain, big-mountain, backcountry, park, racing, and moguls, just a slight tweak in a products design can dramatically change it's targeted use. A perfect example of this is the implementation of "rocker" or reverse-camber in modern ski design. This change in design has allowed for skis to perform much better in deep snow than the traditional camber ski, without sacrificing on-piste performance.
via GIPHY
When creating a ski I would argue the product is likely the most important part of it's marketing plan. A simple mistake or flaw in the design and a brand is likely to lose a customer for years to come.

Price
In the alpine ski market there are very few companies that try to differentiate themselves through price. A quick search through Evo or Backcountry will show most skis fall between the $600 and $900 range with some custom, racing, and high performance skis easily exceeding $1200. Prominent companies such as K2 and Rossignol are able to sell their skis for a slightly lower price because they manufacture many of their products in Europe and China, where as pricier companies such as ON3P, Moment, and Icelantic handmake their skis in the U.S. When creating a marketing plan in the alpine ski industry, price does not seem to be a big selling point for many consumers.

via GIPHY

Promotion
Promotion is very important in marketing alpine skis. Most companies sponsor yearly films, competitions, and support a team of athletes. Companies use these athletes to get their products shown at competitions, in films, and into print publications such as Freeskier. Many brands also use personal marketing techniques and send representatives around the country to promote and demo their products at resorts or shows. It is very important their skis get good reviews and testimonials so most companies submit their products to publishers who release gear guides at the beginning of every ski season. The final and possibly most important means of promoting a product is through word of mouth. The skiing community is pretty tight knit and many people buy products solely based off of suggestions from their friends. For this reason, it is important to make the best product possible.

via GIPHY

Place
Most skis are sold in one of two places, online or in a standard brick and mortar store. In order for a ski to gain traction, it is very important that they become available on a large website such as Evo or Backcountry. These retailers sell hundreds of different models and are able to reach a very large market that some companies would be unable to cover by solely stocking in ski shops.

The Marketing and Capitalization of Harambe's Death

"On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe, a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe."

-WIKIPEDIA-

R.I.P. May 28, 2016 

On that fateful day in May, the world lost one of its greatest heroes. Born in captivity, Harambe was known as a gentle giant to his keepers. Following his death, the public social media outcry became so large that the Cinicinatti Zoo even shut down its Twitter account to escape the never ending onslaught of Haramabe memes.



Out of a terrible tragedy, an entirely new market was born. Capitalizing on the popularity of Harambe in pop culture many enterprising individuals began making Harambe merchandise of all kinds. A quick search of the word "Harambe" in Amazon produces products ranging from simple t-shirts and coffee mugs, to lapel pins and custom Nike Elite socks.

Harambe Depot t-shirt

This phenomenon has grown so large that websites, such as Harambe Depot, that solely sell Harambe related products have been created to satisfy the consumers who are hungry to get a piece of the "Sweet Prince". Even though Harambe was killed nearly half a year ago he still remains a staple subject of memes, Twitter, and Instagram posts.



Harambe's legacy and popularity had even grown large enough that at one point the official NFL merchandise shop had temporarily blocked the sale of custom jerseys sporting his name across the back. This was later determined to be an accident resulting from faulty software, but for a few days many Harambe fans took to Twitter to share their outrage with the NFL for preventing them from supporting their idol.



I do wonder how much longer the Harambe "craze" will last. But for now, the market for Harambe related products continues to remain strong. We may never get him back, but at least we can all own a piece of his legacy.

REST EASY SWEET PRINCE