ref S&S marketing techniques

Stuart & Aimee Balsillie sabalsillie@bigpond.com
Thu, 1 Aug 2002 23:05:04 +1000


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Terry,
I dont know whats worst S&S and their marketing techniques or the people =
who own these "precious" instruments,............ gee when asked to do =
some work some  owners think you about to operate on their only child.
But you cant blame S&S for trying..............

> September 31, 2002, St. Petersburg Times, Section B (local section) =
Page 3, "Keys to Music Excellence". This is a large story taking up most =
of the center of the page.
>=20
> It is a shameless advertisement, IMHO.
>=20
> Three pictures - one of a person playing one of four grand pianos (big =
picture), one of a hand at the keyboard (hey, look at that - you can see =
the brand name on the fallboard!) and a third picture of the Steinway & =
Sons emblem cast into the piano plate that "supports the instrument's =
35,000 pounds of string tension". ( Did they have the bit of how many =
parts there are in the piano, that figure seems to get higher and =
higher, its like the more parts the better the quality or something?)

> The one paragraph "story" tells of how "When played Tuesday, the nine =
pianos told a story about the hands that carefully crafted their parts, =
giving each instrument a unique sound." It goes on to say that the local =
college bought 4 pianos for $240,000 for recitals, etc. "They are so =
precious that they will be locked up after every session and covered =
with tarps." It closes with "School officials want students to work on =
the best of the best equipment........We have the finest =
faculty.......The least we can do is have the finest instruments."
>=20
> Except for communicating the fact that someone bought a piano, I don't =
see what other information that was not of an advertisement nature was =
there. I hardly think buying a piano is newsworthy. Maybe next week they =
will have a feature on Fred Magillicutty buying a lawn mower at Home =
Depot.( I'd like to see that)
>=20
> It's this darn Steinway thing. It always seems to be presented that =
there is Steinway at the 120% level, and every other piano manufacturer =
hovering somewhere around 10% (not that this article says anything about =
any other manufacturer - it is conveyed by omission of any other =
manufacturer).
>=20
> I still say that every Marketing 101 textbook should have a chapter =
that covers 150 years of Steinway marketing. Talk about a marketing =
success story. I think the above is a result of this success - everybody =
wants to hang with a winner - and so, the "story" - or lack thereof.
>=20
> Fortunately, there are much worse things in this world - so I'll go =
dwell on those and not bore anyone that has read this post this far any =
further!
>=20
> Terry Farrell
>  =20
Stuart Balsillie
Piano Technican
Victoria
Australia



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