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Sterling by Musicmans on GC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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#107
Dr. Cheese said:
That is an incredible deal! I would be stuck paying off the wife's home shopping bill!:mad:
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I got my OLP for $115 shipped, no tax on an earlier deal. It's just that cheap for a few colors and I bet they'll be gone fast.

My OLP was that cheap because it was the end of the run, wonder why these Sterlings are being blown out?
 
#108
pringlw said:
Here we go indeed. I'm going to write this in case anybody at Ernie Ball is reading this. If anybody knows such a person, please forward this on.

My "day job" is in branding and brand marketing. I won't go into detail about what I do, but I will simply say that while there's lots and lots of people out there who claim to understand this space, I do this for a living at a high level. I have worked in top marketing capacities at a few different top tier Fortune 500 firms known to have effective marketing. I'm not bragging, I'm just laying my credentials on the table.

Rarely have I seen a decision as poor as this. Beyond confusion, Ernie Ball is going to effectively destroy a marque premium brand (Musicman Sterling Bass).

Now perhaps their plan is to discontinue the USA Sterling Bass. I doubt that's the plan though as its a great, reasonably popular bass that fills a need. My concern is, once the Sterling name gets associated with "budget" - I don't know how on earth they're going to collect $1500 - $1700 for a Sterling USA anymore.

Very very poor branding decision. Stunningly bad. Hard to believe. Ernie Ball - if you are reading this I strongly urge you to adjust this plan by more explicitly separating out the budget line (ie: call it something else for goodness sake).
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+1,000,000
I couldn't agree with this more!!!!

I love the Ernie Ball company. They have put out some great products and are great to deal with, but I have to say, this has got to be one of the worst marketing decisions they could have made.

*2 thumbs down*
:(
 
#109
Johnny Alien said:
I don't really buy the whole story either.

And the Microsoft story is one of my favorites. He was basically breaking the licensing policy and then got upset that they cracked down on him. He made it look like he was completely innocent while he was running many many PC's with duplicate and reused Microsoft licenses. I feel bad for him but Microsoft was not the bad guy in that story at all he was totally doing something illegally. What he should have done is gotten mad and fired his IT people who should have known better even if he didn't.
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Right, but that's an oversimplification. He wasn't necessarily upset that they cracked down on him, but how they did it. He may have been in violation, but a company like Microsoft has better options than to sue or penalize their customers. "Don't attribute to Malice what can be attributed to Stupidity."

Such as:
1. Give them a chance to buy licenses for the computers not in compliance. (Bonus, makes you more money, doesn't piss off customer)
2. Ask them to delete the offending software and comply within a time limit. (Bonus, doesn't piss off customer helps, ensure future revenue stream.)

While MS was in every right to do what they did, that doesn't mean there weren't better alternatives. Why treat your customer like a criminal when you can work with them to serve both your ends.
 
#110
Smallequestrian said:
Right, but that's an oversimplification. He wasn't necessarily upset that they cracked down on him, but how they did it. He may have been in violation, but a company like Microsoft has better options than to sue or penalize their customers. "Don't attribute to Malice what can be attributed to Stupidity."

Such as:
1. Give them a chance to buy licenses for the computers not in compliance. (Bonus, makes you more money, doesn't piss off customer)
2. Ask them to delete the offending software and comply within a time limit. (Bonus, doesn't piss off customer helps, ensure future revenue stream.)

While MS was in every right to do what they did, that doesn't mean there weren't better alternatives. Why treat your customer like a criminal when you can work with them to serve both your ends.
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We could expand this to all property crimes. Instead of police we can have call centers in India asking thieves to return or buy the stuff first.
 
#114
And I think the people who don't know him and make these assumptions are....well, you know what they say about 'assumptions'. It makes an ass out of you and umptions out of me.

FWIW, and I assume it's worth nothing here, the guy has been amazingly generous and warm to more than a few of the EBMM Forumites who have fallen on hard times. That's all I'll say about it, but try to imagine the CEO of any other instrument company.....well, anyway, that's enough of that.

So, about those instruments.
 
#117
bovinehost said:
And I think the people who don't know him and make these assumptions are....well, you know what they say about 'assumptions'. It makes an ass out of you and umptions out of me.
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Well then I'm not one of the people in this thread you're calling an ass. Who do you think gave me the Biff Baby tickets. Mr Ball himself.
 
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