G-FORCE magazine ads

[alexgforce]

We are getting ready to come out with an ad campaign and I would like to get a responce on which add you would prefer to see in a magazine. Any comments you may have are much appreciated.

Thank you for your input.

[alexgforce]

and the other 2

[alexgforce]

I forgot to mention that all photos were taken by Sean Martin - Donek

[tex1230]

sean shot the railroad workers? I didn't think he was that old!

[Neil Gendzwill]

I like "how low can you get". It's got the best photo IMHO, and I like having the specs.

[Jack Michaud]

...just giving honest feedback. "How low can you get" is ok, but you can't see the board or his arms or legs in the picture - he just looks like a blob with a helmet - you will get the classic "what is he doing, falling?" response.

The tracks one I think would be better with a picture of roller coaster tracks. Otherwise the train tracks don't imply speed and g-forces.

The ultimate tool one will confuse people who either don't know what a compass is, or won't figure out what it has to do with snowboarding. A big chef's knife or meat cleaver would make a better impact, and it relates to the name of your boards.

The draft your path one is pure misinformation. The sidecut radius of your board never equals your carve radius. please don't perpetuate that common misconception.

don't take it personally. :1luvu:

I'm jealous. Wish I could have my own private label of carving boards. Good luck.

edit- good point below about changing it to "how low can you <i>go</i>?"

[Steve Prokopiw]

Scantily clad babes are needed.Otherwise 'how low' is the coolest one IMHO.

[Sinecure]

I voted for tracks, but the drafting one is good too.

If this isn't going in a snowboard magazine, you might want to mention that its a snowboard if you use the "how low" one. And wouldn't you want to use the phrase "how low can you go?" It rhymes better.

[www.oldsnowboards.com]

Really NICE work!!

[bobdea]

Scantily clad babes are needed.Otherwise 'how low' is the coolest one IMHO.

TONJA!!!!!
We need you!

[cail]

Alex,

I sent you an email (to info@gforcecarving.com). Let me know if you got it.

[7stg]

Draft your path down the slope has the most potential, the layout is great and I like how the specs are listed. I would kill drafting analogy misinformation I like the precision driven bit though and work in the pict in from ultimate tool for laying tracks.

I would go with the ultimate tool for laying tracks if modifications are not possible. it has the best pict of snowboarding. and change the top pict.

[BoarderYUL]

How low can you go is the one I like better.

I think Jack had a good point with the roller coaster thing though... that would be quite interesting.. the thrill of the rollercoaster mixed with the one you get on your board.

My own advice: forget the "..." . Uneasthetic IMHO. Go straight to the point. The ... implies there could be something else. In publicity, going straight to the point is the key.

That's about it.. for now :biggthump

[dano]

How low can you GO sounds better to me. Maybe some chicklet in low cut jeans with exposed thong superimposed in the background with little alpine snowboards on the waistband. Front or back view would work. Oh yeah, and have the rider slicing a crazy toe side carve on cord that shows bottom of board and huge rooster tail....and a huge shlt eating grin on the rider's face.....

[Steve Dold]

I'd like them a lot more if the slope was cord and you could see a pencil-thin track. It does look like they are falling, having a rough ride.

[Gleb]

good start but since I think you can feel the most g force in a jet, so maybe go with something like that. Or maybe a street bike carving up a course in the same angle as the rider.

I also agree about the pic being on cord and with a rooster tail. I'm psyced for you though!:biggthump Congrats.

[alexgforce]

First of all thanks everyone for your input!!!

JACK, I will take your comments into consideration. I agree with most of the stuff you wrote. The idea behind the use of the railroad photo is that I wanted to have something static. This way the contradiction with the photo underneath would empasize speed and power.

The photos could be much better but thats up to the rider (me). Sean did a great job in terms of image quality. The "how low.." photo indeed has the problems that you mentioned but it is a photo that looks like an explosion and thats mainly why I used it. Hopefully Sean can take some more in the next SES.

The "draft your way..." ad is an abstarct in terms of dims and the idea is to express the technical, precision, accurate qualities of carving. And thats what the numbers are doing. And since I can't mesure the turn exactly I use the numbers that I do know. Would it be better if I didn't use dimensions?

[Steve Dold]

I don't know why, but I like the "Laying tracks" railroad pic. It's kind of a funny ad for a snowboard. The old way vs. the new way.

The ads are pretty cool regardless. It's great to see an ad with the board on the snow. Imagine that, a snowboard on the snow :biggthump

[carvedog]

Alex,
I voted for the slogan before I saw that you had attached the ads below.
I voted for Carving requires precision instruments. I still think this sounds the best.

I liked the railroad photo quirky funny thing. Good looking heelside.
I also like the sound of laying tracks.

The how low can you get makes me think of funk song that sounds like the 70s. Photo is powder shot looking and doesn't make me think about low as much as the powder flying.

Draft your path is out for me as I don't feel like anything close to drafting when I snowboard. I don't mind the visual (even if it is misinformation) but it is too antiseptic for me. Not organic enough visual.

I don't care for the compass photo as much. I prefer a laser for precision instrument or a micrometer even if it is not as easily recognisable I think it could still look as precision.

Is Donek making these for you? I like the looks of the board a lot.
Keep up the good work.

[alexgforce]

Is Donek making these for you? I like the looks of the board a lot.
Keep up the good work.

Indeed he is. We had some demos during the last SES and we will have some more during the next one, Hope you can Join. Thanks for all your advice

[Surf-Rodz]

AD CAMPAIGNS SHOULD NEVER SAY TOO MUCH....look at Lamborghini.


Wayne

Wayne Gallipoli
Surf-Rodz, LLC

http://www.surf-rodz.com

Product Preview_
http://web.mac.com/surfrodz

[D-Sub]

AD CAMPAIGNS SHOULD NEVER SAY TOO MUCH....look at Lamborghini.

I've checked your site multiple times and have always been turned off by the lack of full on topsheet and base shots. In your case your ad/site say too little to be honest.

How's that board selling, btw...the carve series?

[queequeg]

I agree with D-Sub, you can't sell power-tools on hero photography alone. Companies like Lamborghini get away with the kind of advertising that they do because they are advertising to a completely different market, that makes purchase decisions based upon totally different criteria. What will work in one market will often fail in another.


I've checked your site multiple times and have always been turned off by the lack of full on topsheet and base shots. In your case your ad/site say too little to be honest.

How's that board selling, btw...the carve series?

[D-Sub]

not to mention the fact that lamborghini has how many years of history and reputation?

[queequeg]

Any comments you may have are much appreciated.

Hi Alex - I was an art director for many years - I an sending you an email (info at gforcecarving dot com) with some comments I hope you will find helpful. You should have it in an hour or so.

[Surf-Rodz]

Emails and forums seem to get twisted in this whole game.....all i meant was that AD campaigns should get riders, viewers etc to look at your company, the website or the online store. Simple exciting photography and design makes that happen.

Donek makes great decks and i like their company, so this collective process between gforce and Donek is amazing, so why not have fun with an ad campaign.

As far as Donek, i contacted Sean 2 years ago about design ideas for longboard skate decks and snowboards and we exchanged some emails but he was busy and it never happen.

To address the whole lamborghini has many years of history and reputation..YES I AGREE...you seem to miss my point and read too far into this email.

"been turned off by the lack of full on topsheet and base shots"...call me.
Isn't personal conversations or a direct email a great thing in todays world of lack of customer service? I would have even sent you a free deck to try....

I was invited to ECS two years ago by Jack and Todd and i had 5 designed prototype decks with me...about 3 each of each design and only 4-5 riders tested one of them...Jack didn't even want to ride.... My point is that this small group and 1 1/2 percent of alpine needs to support anything new or at least take some time to email or call and get involved...I had over $5000.00 dollars worth of deck to hand out and my support ended up coming from the freestyle riders and the freeride guys months later....

As far as sales i did okay, but i only did limited run due to all the different designs i was testing.

Fin knows some of my story on development....we shared some emails also.

Where is SZ now? We have develop a series of longboard skateboards which are eco-friendly and geared towards body proportion and carving. We are designing a new main SZ website and taking the five snowboard designs and focusing on a soft-boot carving all-mountain ride deck system...core development is 90% natural composite materials and geared for the cross over rider which are the riders who are working with us and loving the whole soft-boot thing....which i feel only helps build the alpine market.

As Jeff Harbaugh states"The question is not how small brands can stay cool. It’s how they can stay in this market at all. Building a quality product ,pricing it right, delivering it right, customer service , and supporting it with appropriate promotional programs gets you nothing more than the right to try".

My cell phone and email work and if anyone wants to call or join in i'm right here....and everyone who has been a part of this process has been paid.

Thanks for your comments and as always enjoy the ride.

Wayne

Wayne Gallipoli
Surf-Rodz, LLC

http://www.surf-rodz.com
wayne@surf-rodz.com

Product Preview_
http://web.mac.com/surfrodz

203.530.2668 mobile
203.937.5722 fax

162 Bellevue Avenue
West Haven, Connecticut 06516
USA

[Erik J]

IMO, I would go less "techy" with the drafting tools/compass stuff and focus on the fun part. I think the techy stuff pidgeonholes carving to a certain degree.

A really aggressive carve shot in the "how low can you go" pic
showing more of the rider and board in the pics. I love the shots because I know whats going on, but someone else mentioned the "it looks like you're falling down" thing which I've heard before.

Just my opinion.

[SEJ]

I like the ultimate tool, but I agree the shot should be on a groomer so you can really see whats happening without all the flying snow.

[Neil Gendzwill]

been turned off by the lack of full on topsheet and base shots...call me.
Isn't personal conversations or a direct email a great thing in todays world of lack of customer service? I would have even sent you a free deck to try....But most people don't really want to do that. The ad is simple, that's fine and I agree - too much clutter is no good. But the website the ad points to should have all the information the buyer needs. I'm not going to be inspired to pick up the phone otherwise. Forcing people to phone or email is not improved customer service - picking up the phone/answering the email promptly if they do call/write is improved customer service.

[Bordy]

Alex great work putting together your ads, I love them.

Screw what the others are telling you. How many alpine companys do they run??

I love the railroad picture of people laying tracks Its great! No need for a roller coster track that is nothing more then someone spining your already great idea.

Keep up the good work and best of luck to you!

Thanks for contributing to alpine!

[Jack Michaud]

Alex great work putting together your ads, I love them.

Screw what the others are telling you. How many alpine companys do they run??

I love the railroad picture of people laying tracks Its great! No need for a roller coster track that is nothing more then someone spining your already great idea.

Keep up the good work and best of luck to you!

Thanks for contributing to alpine!

so predictable. :p

[alexgforce]

Billy,

Thanks for your nice comments and thanks for all the support I am getting from you and Dave. Hope you ll make it this year to the SES. Looking forward to meet and ride.

I have to say that all the input I am getting is very usefull in its own way. The most common mistake when a concept is generated is that the creator gets too involved and looses his objectivity. Reading what people have to say definitely gives a bigger picture and a larger perspective

[stokeds]

okay the railroads ad maybe with another bottom pic as suggested of a rider on a groomed slope ... anyway I first thought the whole thing was 2 seperate ads and that lead me to another idea as follows

railroad pic
... the ultimate tool for laying tracks
WWW.GFORCECARVING.COM (http://www.GFORCECARVING.COM)

(simply the first ad without the bottom picture)

would not use it as an introducory ad in a regular snowboard magazine but I just thought this would be a great ad that could be used sometime

[stokeds]

also I think the 'precision' ads look good just not my taste I would prefer something with emotional impact like action of funny shots with a good tagline

[DiveBomber]

sorry but they are all to busy, heres how you do it:, I know ive had to come up with add before. KISS,+contrast/POP

you have a long product, But the board on the ouside of the page, if you know what side of the publication it will be on.
the riding shots look like they rider is wiping out. you can barely tell what he's on.

You need one of 2 shots, one long shot with a clean carved line, on a fresh groomed slope, with a rider ad the bottom 2/3 of it, with minimal spray

OR a low shot with the board high on angle driving right at the camera.

Minimal info at bottom, possibly black print over/with the snow continuing down to the bottom of the page: name, phone #/website

[peter_x]

I like the first one, but I would change the layout. Don't divide it into quarters. Maybe you could have the top 2/3rds of the page split in two. On the left you would have the railroad, and on the right the carve picture. And on the bottom 1/3rd there would be the snowboard pic w/ all the specs + info.

Edit: acutally, just use it as you have it, but combine the bottom half into one frame.