Bob Nicholson on mon 4 aug 03
When this discussion started a few weeks ago, I suggested that,
because the ceramics community does not have a big-budget
centralized organization behind us, we could perhaps do the next-best
thing by launching a grass-roots awareness campaign.
However, seeing the discussions, and the running results
of the marketing poll, I'm starting to think that maybe a
grass-roots campaign is really our STRENGTH.
As Holly and others have pointed out, there's tremendous
diversity in the clay world. As one example:
Many respondents to the poll don't feel that "local artistic
tradition" is important to their customers. But if you happen
to be producing Pueblo style pottery in the Southwestern US,
the traditional aspect might be a VERY important element.
So, how do we deal with the widely diverging aspects of the
ceramics world?
I suggest we can still use a common tag-line and some shared
promotional efforts, but tailored by various local or special
interest groups to meet their needs.
For example, there are over 60 ceramics guilds that I am aware
of. There are also several major ceramics and clay sites, such
as CeramicsToday.com and vickihardin.com, plus some pretty
big organizations such as Potters' Council. Promotional efforts
from these various groups might be very different, but they would
all be stronger is they shared a unifying slogan or perhaps a graphic
element.
Anyway, I think the ongoing discussion has raised some very good
points about how we portray ourselves!
Additional suggestions for marketing slogans are still welcome;
we can give them a "time weighting" so they are not at a disadvantage
against other slogans in the poll. And I've gotten some good input on
ways to publicize the effort as well.
For those who have not yet looked at the poll, the address is
http://www.artchain.com/polls/gotclay.html
- Bob
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