JN201 Week 3 Media Blog

Topic 1:
https://twitter.com/ibanezofficial
Ibanez uses Twitter to advertise their products. They don't often post links to their new products, their main technique is to share links pertaining to established musicians they sponsor and at times reference one of their products. Some of the tweets with references to famous guitarists include testimonials or demonstrations that are obviously famous-person testimonial. Most of the other tweets are snob appeal, claiming musicians can get farther and sound better by using Ibanez products because of their superior design and quality. Much of the snob appeal truly comes from their website, which many of the tweets link to.

2. I think their technique is effective, they seem to be appealing to several demographics. They advertise with musicians from a lot of different genres and time periods. They use testimonials from new metal bands to attract predominantly young men who think by buying expensive guitars, they will play better. Guitar sales have shown in the last few years that women are buying guitars at a higher rate than ever before, Ibanez is making an effort to market guitars to women. They are stepping beyond the typical marketing technique with women, which is to advertise acoustic guitars, and providing examples of female guitarists who play electric and play heavier or more aggressive music. I think their techniques are effective because they are trying to attract buyers from many different backgrounds by presenting diverse applications of their many products.

3. Famous-person testimonials tend to be quite effective for things like instruments because any time someone invests in a new guitar or even pickups, it's typically a costly investment. People often look to musicians they want to play like or sound like for direction on what products to use. Music can also be quite competitive and the idea that your guitar is better than all the other guitars is certainly an appealing thought to those who wish to stand out from the pack. I've spent years experimenting with pickups but I typically start by trying to find out what pickups a musician I like uses. If/when I see a musician I really like talking about a product, I usually at least look at what they're saying even though I assume they're just saying whatever is needed to get paid for an endorsement.