The big question is did you contact the company via telephone to verify if the endorsement is real?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Offered an Endorsement Deal.. seems sketchy
- Thread starter Jerritt Craig
- Start date
-
- Tags
- deal
Any company that would have you endorse something sight unseen is not a company I'd want to endorse on that principle alone.
Remember, they aren't endorsing you, you are endorsing them. If people buy the stuff and discover it's crap, then you are the a-hole that helped sell it to them by staking your reputation as a professional on it. Would you put your seal of approval on a terrible Chinese knockoff?
Remember, they aren't endorsing you, you are endorsing them. If people buy the stuff and discover it's crap, then you are the a-hole that helped sell it to them by staking your reputation as a professional on it. Would you put your seal of approval on a terrible Chinese knockoff?
Yeah, best to leave that to the big name artists.
- Apr 21, 2000
- 10,465
- 866
- 60
- Disclosures
- Gallien Krueger for the last 12 years!
Quick question: Do you have a relationship with this company? I was friends with Dana Teague and Mike Brown for a year before they asked me to endorse Warwick, and the same is true with the artist rep for GK, SIT strings, Ibanez, as well as the clothing and shoe lines I endorsed. It may not seem like a big deal, but it goes a long way.
- Oct 7, 2000
- 18,619
- 38,943
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Musicman basses
It depends on a lot of things. The first and most important, for me, would be how they found out about me. If I was playing in an average local band that played once or twice a month, I'd be very wary. I most likely wouldn't even consider it. If it's because I play in a super happening band that gets a lot of exposure, I'd then consider moving forward like this:
- I'd check the company out and see what their reputation was like.
- I'd decide then if I'd even want a bass from them.
- I'd check with other people who bought their instruments. How much did they pay and did they like them?
- I'd contact them through their website and not through emails or instagram.
- I'd get a phone number and have at least one detailed conversation with the person who offered the deal.
It sounds like you are being offered the opportunity to spend over 1k on something you may not have considered had someone not waved a discount in your face. You're buying a bass and there are strings attached, not just to the bass. Does it feel like a good deal to you?
Unsolicited message through Instagram offering me 50% off their product? Sounds like spam and would make me wonder how many other people they offered the exact same deal. I reckon if they sent out hundreds or thousands of those offers and only one or two accepted, it would be worth it for them.
i agree with the general opinion here: all excellent points, and things to think about, and 'protocols' to consider, but in your particular situation, i would add: buyer beware!
good luck!
good luck!
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
One question. Do you have a reputation when they are gaining something by you "endorsing" them? If someone offered me an endorsement, I'd wonder why.
Just sayin'.
Just sayin'.
Unless you are a WELL known artist with a lot of visibility, NO company is going to seek you out and ask you to endorse them.
A guitar buddy of mine got a deal with them. Nothing sketchy. The guitar was OK. Build quality was good, it played very nice, few little cosmetic blemishes which they did mention to my friend beforehand and gave him a bit of a better deal because of it. Sound was ok. It had GFS pickups which I replaced for him.
If the deal isn't a two way street, then it sounds like manure to me. Literally every level of endorsement I have experienced wants something more than a simple financial transaction in return. The first and most important thing involving an endorsement is for publicity and greater exposure for the brand, not new and creative ways to sell products at a discount. I know from the rules of the road.
I think some of you are overthinking it. Social Media marketing is huge; instagram "influencers" can bring in a lot of money. Do you have a decent instagram following OP?
They're probably offering this to a few people with decent ig followings to promote their product.
If you know their instruments are good and were looking for a new bass, jump on it. Otherwise maybe ask to try one of their basses or tell them its not something you're interested in atm. Not really sketchy imo.
They're probably offering this to a few people with decent ig followings to promote their product.
If you know their instruments are good and were looking for a new bass, jump on it. Otherwise maybe ask to try one of their basses or tell them its not something you're interested in atm. Not really sketchy imo.
Last edited:
That may not always be true. They may just prefer to have names of actual musicians (albeit not very well known ones) attached to their product, as opposed to having no names at all.
This depends on the company. If they don't have a reputation, why should you believe their instrument is worth $1,000, nevemind $2,000?
In other words, they may be building a $500 quality instrument, marketing it as if it were a $2,000 instrument, and selling it to anyone for $1000. If that were the case, this would not be an "endorsement," but just another sale for them.
Who is the company?
wmhill
Inactive
- Aug 20, 2012
- 4,054
- 17,210
- Disclosures
- MTD basses endorsed artist Bartolini pickups emerging artist TECAMP bass players gear endorsed
The discount seems big (unless it's B stock, leftover, discontinued etc...) and usually these kind of deals are offered to someone already playing their products (but not always). It seems pretty odd to say the least. Proceed with caution.....
Not necessarily, there are a lot of boutique companies out there that like to plaster their websites with pictures and name lists of obscure, gigging musicians because the image helps them sell what they have.
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
To the O.P., I am the sales rep and artist rep for Killer B Guitars and Zane Guitars. I am very familiar with structuring endorsement deals. Would you mind messaging me what company it is and who contacted you? I may know the person or be familiar with the brands deals.
As far as how they contacted you, it could be legit and the offer they made you is also not to far off on certain endorsement deals.
At both companies that I work for, sometimes we will offer a 50% off MSRP price or sell the artist a guitar or bass at the same price we would sell them to a dealership, at their cost and then from there, see if that artist does a good job by repping us to their audience or we will see if they bring in sales and then from that, we may give them future builds at an even lower cost or possibly even free.
One of our artists at Killer B had an at cost deal given to him initially but he did a fantastic job of repping our brand and within less than a year, brought us in about 12 more customers and I think at least 2 more full time artists that we ended up giving deal to as well. From those, the next 2 guitars that we built for this artist, we gave to him for free because he does such a great job of promoting us and bringing us sales.
As far as how they contacted you, it could be legit and the offer they made you is also not to far off on certain endorsement deals.
At both companies that I work for, sometimes we will offer a 50% off MSRP price or sell the artist a guitar or bass at the same price we would sell them to a dealership, at their cost and then from there, see if that artist does a good job by repping us to their audience or we will see if they bring in sales and then from that, we may give them future builds at an even lower cost or possibly even free.
One of our artists at Killer B had an at cost deal given to him initially but he did a fantastic job of repping our brand and within less than a year, brought us in about 12 more customers and I think at least 2 more full time artists that we ended up giving deal to as well. From those, the next 2 guitars that we built for this artist, we gave to him for free because he does such a great job of promoting us and bringing us sales.
Last edited:
I can only speak of the 3 artist endorsement deals I have which are listed in my profile. In each case I was a user and true endorser of their products. On top of that I had visibility in markets they were lacking. I reached out to them, and after some back and forth negotiating and providing many stats etc...negotiated deals that were mutually beneficial. All 3 companies have been outstanding across the past 7 or so years.
madbass6
Inactive
- Jan 13, 2009
- 2,428
- 1,295
- Disclosures
- I do not give consent to use any of my photos ! please respect that. thank you.
if it sounds to good to be true it usually is! Follow your gut feeling
do More research for sure!
