Knife advertising

jokrswylde

jokrswylde

Basic Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
442
I was just wondering why knife companies, especially the larger ones, don't advertise commercially. Surely it is expensive for tv/radio air time, but it seems it would help the sheeple move away from the "knife as a weapon" mentality, and move more toward seeing knives as tools. Can you imagine a Delica being shown on a commercial with other tools such as screwdrivers, hammers, etc. I know several knife companies are carried by retail stores such as Wally World, but out of all of the WM commercials, I have never seen them feature a sale on 110's or kershaw's. Lowe's and Home Depo also carry knives, and I always see them promoting DeWault, Stanley, etc, but never any knives.

I bring this up, because daily I am reminded of how ignorant the majority of the public is to quality blades. I guy at work showed me his new MAXAM knife just this morning, and remarked how good a deal he got on a knife with wood scales and stainless steel. :rolleyes:
 
It was in "Adventure", a spin-off from Nat'l Geo that deals with hiking, climbing, skiing, kayaking. But, yeah, that would be cool to see Buck or Spydie on the TV.

Frank
 
Navy NCIS is kind of a commercial for knives. This weeks episode didn't have any knives, only the mention of Gibbs knife rule in the end.
 
jokrswylde said:
-- but it seems it would help the sheeple move away from the "knife as a weapon" mentality, and move more toward seeing knives as tools. --
Click to expand...
this is probably true, and something that needs to be addressed by the whole industry and us responsible users as the governments all over seem to be needlessly tightening the legislation. :jerkit: A more visible coverage displaying tools as what they are might help.

when carrying a knife - especially when it's not a dagger, sword or comparable weapon by basis - is illegal, it doesn't correlate with the "innocent until proven guilty"-princible very well IMO. Such is the case here. On the other hand, I do jaywalk, too. But not in front of a police vehicle. :rolleyes:
 
Geez...some people still fail to read the announcement I posted in Community.

NO KNIFE DISCUSSION OF ANY KIND IN COMMUNITY!!!!

Read it and please follow the rules. I posted this announcement for a reason..to help you figure out what forum a topic should be posted in. There should be no reason why anyone should be posting in the wrong forum if they read the announcement. Continuing to post topics in Community which clearly don't belong has a consequence and that is a 24 hour ban.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/announcement.php?f=742&a=81

You have 1 strike out of 3. :rolleyes:

Moving to the appropriate forum.
 
It would be nice to see a Buck or Spyderco commercial on prime-time television, but I don't know if the expense would be worth the outcome.

First off, television commercials aren't going to change the minds of anyone who already doesn't like knives. No amount of casino commercials could ever make me want to visit one. And anti-alchohol people are unlikely to start drinking just because booze ads are on t.v. now.

Second, there are better ways to spend advertising budgets. Magazines, gun and knife shows, etc. are better ways of reaching the target audience.

Just my thoughts,
-Bob
 
Knife commercials would work on the Outdoor channel. They would not work on the big three, er, big four networks.
 
I do apologize for posting in the wrong place and for not interpreting the rules correctly, but considering I average 0.37 posts per day, was all that really necessary:rolleyes: Hope you can ever forgive, big guy:jerkit:

K.V. Collucci said:
Geez...some people still fail to read the announcement I posted in Community.

NO KNIFE DISCUSSION OF ANY KIND IN COMMUNITY!!!!

Read it and please follow the rules. I posted this announcement for a reason..to help you figure out what forum a topic should be posted in. There should be no reason why anyone should be posting in the wrong forum if they read the announcement. Continuing to post topics in Community which clearly don't belong has a consequence and that is a 24 hour ban.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/announcement.php?f=742&a=81

You have 1 strike out of 3. :rolleyes:

Moving to the appropriate forum.
Click to expand...
 
jokrswylde said:
I do apologize for posting in the wrong place and for not interpreting the rules correctly, but considering I average 0.37 posts per day, was all that really necessary........
Click to expand...

Taken directly from the announcement...

NO KNIFE DISCUSSION IS TO BE HELD IN COMMUNITY UNLESS TO POST ABOUT GET TOGETHER OR SHOW INFO!!!
Click to expand...

What is there to interpret in that statement? So..yes....I was necessary. :rolleyes:
 
I'm sure Spyderco and the rest would spend their marketing bucks on mainstream media ads if they thought they'd get a return on their investment. It's not like the idea can't have occurred to them--which means they've considered it and thought better of it.
 
Kind of a niche market...I think we would need some sort of cultural transition back to when everyone carried knives, then we could reach the "everyman" who's watching the tv.
 
Collucci, chill my brotha!

I think the market is way too specialized to advertise. other than QVC- LOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

:D
 
Knives do not have enough mass appeal to be worth it to advertise on prime time TV.

A company would spend a ton of money and only make a few hits.

For example, guitar companies and stores don't make TV ads. But they do have radio ads on stations that a lot of guitar players listen to, such as rock stations.

So I'm sure knife companies have ads in outdoor magaizines and such, but on TV it would cost more than it is worth. They would pay to reach millions of people, but only a tiny fraction of that would be potential buyers. More mainstream products offer a much better cost/hit ratio.

I know we all wish knives were accepted in the mainstream, and we don't understand how people can't love knives as we do, but it's the sad truth that the majority of the world doesn't care about knives- and if they buy a knife, it will cost about 5 dollars max.
 
Knives should be made a fashion item. This would be achievable through a role model, a hero. All the kids wanted a SAK in the late 80s when MacGyver solved his problems with one. And I don't remember him stabbing anyone.

Several similar cases over a period of time would help the mainstream appeal.
 
True, but it would be kids who would be the most impressionable, and there probably couldn't be any direct marketing to kids (such as Buck ads in comic books), because there would be public outrage over advertising dangerous objects to kids. Sad but true. Actually in today's age with how ****ed up kids are now, maybe that public outrage makes a lot of sense.
 
maybe only a few people owuld buy them. But also maybe if they made that big step they could reach far more people than they allready do, that have never even heard of quality knives and I'm sure with the right types of commercials they could sway even the staunchest anti-knife person to see that knives are more than just weapons. I mean if they have commercials for people with genital herpies on all the time, I'm sure there would be a bigger base for knife users.
 
Tiewas said:
I mean if they have commercials for people with genital herpies on all the time, I'm sure there would be a bigger base for knife users.
Click to expand...

I think you're dramatically underestimating the herpified population...
 
Hair said:
Knives do not have enough mass appeal to be worth it to advertise on prime time TV.
Click to expand...

Right.

I don't think it has to do with the 'knives are weapons' mentality either, I don't really see that mentality as being too prevalent out there. Maybe it's because of where I live or my own knives are tools mentality that I don't see it though.

I think the reason we don't see the mass commercialization of the knife industry is because it would border on useless. To most people in the world a knife is a knife. If they need a knife they'll buy a knife and for the most part will look for the bargins. To make the purchase of a higher quality knife reasonable for the average person, the information required would take more time than a television commercial or radio spot can offer.

So what we have are a few industry magazines (Blade, Knife World, et al) that are for those of us who collect or who have a general interest in knives, and then there are special interest magazines where the knife companies will advertize their products that are designed to fit certain needs (climbing, hunting, sailing, etc.).

In this way, I think the knife industry and the individual companies are better served. By advertising to a specialized group who is more likely to buy the product there's more return on the initial investment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top