Spydie ads: New Ground?

J

James Y

Joined
Feb 18, 1999
Messages
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I just saw a Spyderco plug for the new Endura and Delica '98 models in one of the martial arts magazines. Might this be a start for Spyderco to begin a campaign of advertising to different audiences?

Someone else already suggested (was it in the suggestion thread?) to have ads with celebrities using Spyderco knives for utilitarian purposes in ads.

You could also have ads that show someone in a (utilitarian) predicament who really needs a knife to cut something, but doesn't...it could say, "Gotta knife?"
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Jim
 
Hi James Y,

Great ideas, thanks! The marketing department at Spyderco is ALWAYS open to suggestions and ideas. Our motto,"the more gray matter the merrier".

We hunt for new audiences daily. Every few months we focus on 4-5 new markets we have not hit yet(or fully)and blitz them with product info. The martial arts market is one we just blitzed. What mag did you see the write up in?

We've tossed the idea of celebrity endorsements around. Any suggestions? There are a lot of women working at Spyderco, if we took a majority vote we could end up with a lotta beefcake. LOL

"Gotta knife? ads" is where we would like to go. Sal had an idea he voiced recently. The scene: A chef who has to chop up food by throwing it against a wall because he has no knife. Laws in some countries make this not so unbelieveable.

Your thoughts?

Joyce
 
Magazine ad:

Scene, businessman is a nice suit making up a bagel for a snack with a Centofante.

Caption: "High performance ATS34 Stainless steel, flat ground blade with a razor sharp edge. G10 composite handle for a secure grip. Securelock, so my fingers are safe. My Bagel ain't ever had it so good."

YeK

 
If you could work out a spoof ad involving Rosie and Tom (you know after that gun interview blowup), you would have a dynamite attention getter. Just a thought.
 
Joyce:

A hiker has his bootlace caught in a section of railroad track, and in the not-so-far-off distance a train is coming.

A woman with very long Lady-Godiva-style hair is being dragged around in circles by a wild-eyed carrousel horse.

Along similar lines: A person with his hand tangled up in a rope is being dragged down the street by a huge dog.

An office worker (or perhaps better: a famous White House aide
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) is shredding papers and gets his necktie caught in the machine. (Remember that scene in The Ten Commandments where the slave women gets her clothing caught under a huge stone as it's being relentlessly dragged towards her? It's sorto of like that.)

This one would only work on TV: A person in a bathroom stall is trying to remove toilet paper from a roll that is too tightly wedged in the dispencer. Only the tiniest fragments can be torn off. The person uses a Spyderco conveniently clipped in a shirtpocket to cut a useful sized wad out of the roll. (I've actually done this, by the way.)

A group of well-dressed people at an office party are tearing up a chocolate birthday cake with their bare hands.

You know, I lie awake at night thinking about this sort of stuff. There's more where that came from.

I don't know if you can afford it, but if you could run a series of well directed and acted TV commercials, you'd have a series of extremely popular ads that would rival those of the Energizer Bunny. You could make Spyderco a household word and probably help save the world from stupid anti-knife legislation.


Yours,
David Rock
 
How about a half dozen or so quick (like five or ten seconds each) scenes showing terribly good uses of knives that could fit somewhere in most people's lives, like (borrowing a bit from above):
  • someone slicing a bagel, while the person next to them inexpertly rips one apart; (cut to next)
  • someone fighting a losing battle with a bag of chips, or some other "adult proof" plastic wrapped goodie, ending up with said goodie mostly spilling on them and the ground, and then the person next to them doing a well-practiced (and familiar to forum members) knife-out / knife-open / {snik} bag-open / knife-closed / knife-pocketed motion, and smiling while eating the first chip (cut to next)
  • person sawing at tape on a freshly-UPS'ed box with a key on a large jangly keyring, next person over doing the familiar pocket-to-box-to-pocket motion to open
...you get the idea. Not too far overacted, but helping to give them the idea that a knife can be their friend, can be a useful tool for them.

Hmm, Mr. Mattis has shown some pictures around of carved paper swans (something like that?) that his local sushi chef did with an AFCK -- ending the commercial with a 5-10 second fast-forward film of something like that being done, could be another way to showcase evil weapon as artist's tool...

End with the "Got Knife?" titles (or if the milk people give you trouble, maybe "knives, they're not just for breakfast anymore"
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), and, of course, Spyderco and AKTI logos.

Make it a bit more obvious to the unknowing masses that pocket knives definitely fit in that category of "once you have one you can't figure out how you ever got along without one".

Just some thoughts,
-- Carl
 
first scene - mom and dad laboriously blowing up large quantity of balloons for birthday party

second scene - the party. Noise, chaos, five year-olds wearing party hats and throwing cake

third scene - mom and dad alone, surveying the damage. Mom says "Ready?" Dad says "Oh Yeah!" They flick out their his-n-hers blue and pink Natives, and attack the balloons, making approximately as much noise as a room full of five year-olds.

fade to black, voice over and text "Got Knives?"
 
How about a magazine ad? A picture of someone trying to force their way into a car with the operator of the car still in it.

At the bottom a picture of a cellphone and a Matriarch with the question: "Right now, which would you rather have?"

------------------
Dennis Wright
Wright Knife & Sporting Goods
(Buy a gun....Piss off a liberal!)
La Mesa, Kalifornica
wrightknife@ixpres.com

 
I have an idea some ads may be humorous and others more serious.

1. A guy cutting himself free of a jammed seatbelt and staggering out if his vehicle just in time.

2. There is a wedding cake and no knife...so the groom rips off his tie, rolls up his sleeves, and starts karate chopping the cake into a big mess that flies onto all the guests' discussed faces.

3. A man's workshirt or jacket somehow gets caught in machinery. With his other free hand he pulls out his Spyderco, cuts the material and frees himself.

4. Guests at a very posh dinner party are served a big, elegant steak dinner, and no knives, so all the rich people start ripping apart the meat with their hands and teeth...then one guest, with a sardonic smile, knowingly shakes his head, pulls out a Calypso Jr., and easily cuts his steak into neat pieces. Camera pans out as he eats casually and other guests are eating like wild creatures.

5. (magazine ad) Jennifer Lopez in sexy pose holding one Spyderco in her hand and another clearly clipped in the other pocket. "If you want my lovin' you gotta carry a Spyderco."
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Note, celebrity is just my choice for an example.
wink.gif


6. Two men hiking in the woods. A large bear comes after them, they both run, both get stuck in tree branches. One pulls out his Spydie knife and cuts himself free of the material. The other guy is hopelessly stuck. You hear a manacing growl. Last thing we see is his face turning to face the camera, which zooms in close...he makes one sound: "Gulp!" Picture goes blank. We hear a voice: "Gotta knife?"

Joyce:
I'm not sure what name of the magazine it was..."Martial arts" something...I'm planning on buying it this weekend, I was just browsing a couple days ago and saw it. I'll tell you once I have it.
Jim
 
Joyce - looks like you've uncovered a gold mine in the idea dept.

Some really unique and interesting ideas. Thanx much.

One note to share; a full page add in Good Houskeeping or Playboy is forty bajillion dollars per month and TV is a little more costly.
sal
 
I loved the commercials at the end of the Sharpmaker video. I would like to see them and more like it air on television. Not only does it promaote Spyderco, but it shows knives in a non threatening atmosphere. It could serve to change some attitudes about knives as weapons instead of tools.

------------------
-Dennis-


 
forty bajillion? What a coincidence, that's exactly what my paycheck says every month....lol!!!!

Seriously, I've always thought a "gotta knife" ad would be excellent..so many scenarios, serious and funny that could be used! Actually Joyce has a calander in her office, I have no idea where it came from that would make a good ad...wanna elaborate Joyce?
Danelle
 
Here's your two cents from a graphic designer in the advertising industry. "Got Knife?" Is great, but it is a tag line that only really works once. Pictures are still worth 1,000 words. There's a trend starting in knife advertising that sums up as "See the pretty pictures I can make in PhotoShop!"...Please don't go there.
Keep them short, sweet, and clean. Boker ads are a great example.
Stepping off my soapbox,
Jim
 
Joyce:
The ad was in a magazine called "Martial Arts Illustrated."

Other ideas for probaby less-expensive ads might involve ads in magazines with brief descriptions of true stories from people whose Spyderco knives saved their or somebody else's lives in an emergency situation...especially situations that normal citizens could find themselves in, either during normal life or recreational activities. Not really in a 'combative' situation, but where a life-saving cut, or, where a knife was used to save the day for more mundane tasks.
It would not be necessary for these ads to be "crowded." They can still be neatly done.
Jim
 
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