IAO AGD BillBoard Sighting!

[sk8dood]

B3, XGames and any demos are 'kid' friendly events.

Obviously you havent been to any demos lately.

[AGD]

Time for me to chime in here since Capo and Debra Dion have been mentioned. As most of you know I am not one to go for controversy. I do look around and see what works for others because I really don't want to learn from my own mistakes.

Almost all of the people that saw the prototype billboard laughed. This was both young and old. This to me was an important factor in determining which billboard design to go with. Billboards are only there for a few seconds and you have to bang the idea into their heads. This billboard seemed to have that characteristic over the others.

I want everyone to know that BEFORE we decided to go with the billboard I showed it to Debbie and asked her opinion. Both her and her husband Ryan were ok with it. They thought it was just the right amount of edgy and was on the same plane as an add they were going to run in the local theaters. Debbie and Ryan have a teenage daughter so they are representative of the parent crowd.

I also showed it to another mother who owns a paintball store and she laughed and thought it was great. At no time did any of the older people I showed it to express any missgivings about the style of add.

Needless to say I was shocked when the billboard company refused to accept the artwork. It turns out they were not against the partly naked woman but the tiny lettering on the bottom reffering to mancows site. They said the site was over the top and they couldn't advertise it. Situation resolved with the removal of the tiny lettering.

When you are on the top of the ladder you can afford to be conservative in your advertising approach. Angel continues this way with only a minimum of neutral advertising in a few magazines. Being the underdogs we have to scream to get noticed and that's what we are doing with the Mancow stunt and the billboard. Certainly once we do get noticed we can change the tactics.

I think AO has a problem with all this because the forum does not see us as underdogs and it doesn't make sense to people here that we should go to these lengths. As far as Capo is concerned she is one of us. She is someone you get to know and respect for her personallity and playing skills. To put her half naked on a billboard would present her in a completly different light that we don't need to do with family. I do plan on having her in posters and she will be sexy as we can make her but still clothed. The Capo Fan Club is going in the right direction. This is why Capo is going to Am Open and not the billboard girl.

If the tournamnet has this much discussion about the billboard it will have done it's job.

AGD

[irbodden]

Originally posted by sk8dood

Obviously you havent been to any demos lately.

Went to a Razor demo last fall, even chilled with the guys for alittle while after. They were personal friends with one of my buddie's sister and boyfriend who we all hung out with.

So stop trying to act cool.

[shartley]

[Miscue]

WDP Love Juice

[irbodden]

Are those on billboards?

[than205]

Personally, I find it confusing to have a "family" forum and a billboard like that.
I've said it before and I'll say again. I thought and loved that AGD was above the "sex sells" mentality.

I like a wee bit o'smut, but that has it's context. I play a sport which I love, and I use a marker which I love.
I want AGD to come out on top without having to use the lowest common denominator.
Sure shake things up. Do it the way you've always done it through innovation. I think level 10 has more carrying power than we all recognize. There are so many things that you have shown us that are on the prototype table.
I think AGD's time is now.
I wish this could all be done with class.

[MikeCouves]

Horny yes, impressed? Not really. I like the way paintball is compared to other sports/extreme sports. In skateboarding magazines there is alot of swearing and alot of unneeded content, and before I played paintball, I wouldn't have even noticed. It disappoints me to see the skateboarding magazines not editing this stuff out! I was reading my first PGI a couple days ago because you can't get them where I live, and I was on vacation. I was utterly shocked to see the swearing and phrases. Even if it was censored, it did not look good at all. I personally like the Kingman or whatever it is in the other picture. Although the AGD one does have a little comical sense to it, I don't like the sex sells theme. It disappoints alot of the more mature players that don't find it that funny.

On the other side, she is pretty hot for a paintball model. Most of em are nasty like the ACI one...*shudders*.

[Muzikman]

Than205 brings up a REALLY good point. This is a PG-13 forum, where I can't even say the word A$$ without being warned about it. Then AGD turns around and runs that billboard. I mean come on, is this not a double standard? If you make the arguement that there is worse in a PG-13 movies then you are right, but they also use some pretty nasty language in them to.

I rememeber once someone said that they wanted this forum to be something that parents would not mind if their little kids got on and read? Well I want the billboards to be something that the parents wouldn't mind if the little kids see it while driving down the road.

[billmi]

The post above addresses the double standard issue - see the reference to "family."

[tremis]

Gee, I lose internet access for a bit and look what happens.

There have been a number of good points brought up. I don't mind the ad. My daughters aren't old enough to care. (2 and 5) Of course, if it wasn't for the Push video, they would have no idea what happens when daddy goes to play paintball. Nor will they for a long time. I never felt like this was a sport for children. Somebody mentioned Shartley making teenagers look stupid or something to that effect. My take on that,... teenagers are stupid. Now I'm gonna get a bunch of teenagers swearing that they are not stupid, but I said the same thing when I was one too. Now I say "boy was I stupid".
On a related note there has been some folks treating Shartley with less respect than he deserves. I'm saying this should stop. On this particular subject, I don't agree with Shartley nor did I when I first ran into him here. But I have NEVER seen him be remotly unapropriate in the manner in which he disagrees with us.( or when he does agree with us for that matter).

I think cledford hit the nail on the head when he talked about who this is aimed at. The indusrty as a whole doesn't seem to care a whole lot about Classy family type players regardless of what Debra wants. There is this huge financial boom going on in the other 'alternative' sports. Not so in Golf, Tennis or Polo. They want in on that action and paintball will fit in that culture a lot easier than it will fit in with the classy doctor/lawyer culture.

The one thing that actually has a point that I'll add is this. If the kid that doesn't want the mag to begin with (and face it most don't) sees an ad like this and maybe wants to look into it and now can't because his Mom is offended, whats the loss? Sure The mom was driven away, but neither her nor the kid were a potential customer to begin with. He wanted an Angel or a Timmey. That's whats kool.( or at least what his friends told him and they are the biggest influence on him in this case) Now in a year or two when the kid isn't in school and is going to buy his own stuff, he still has a favorable image of AGD, even if his mom doesn't. Of course thats just one other way to look at it.

One last thing, I can't believe that the Thordic fan club actually has multiple members.

Tremis

[squidboy69]

I have to agree with shartley on the AGD reply. It does seem a little lop sided to gauge the response of a) a paintball event promoter, and b) a paintball store owner... irregardless of how many and how old their kids are. I mean they already play paintball, it's not like they'll stop because some tart has her ta-ta's on some billboard in Pittsburgh. Really, it's not just the people already playing that we are trying to reach.

It would seem to me, that based on some of Tom's other posts that he realizes that warp was not the breakthrough he was looking for with *current* tournament players. Why flog it do a jaded demographic, I would think that warp ads would be more effective aimed at new players without these preconcieved notions about their markers. Tom's "test market" knows paintball, sure they'll find it funny.

I know I'm not a big, important, 4 digit post count member here, but I really thought that AGD's technical merit were well above this level. I saw how Tom cared about his 'family' here, and the superiority of his products, and to be honest it was infectious. I dusted off my 'mag, I bought my LX kit, pre-ordered my C&C extreme, and talked up 'mags at my local store. Now I'm just flogging the same drek as every other mfg. out there. A flashy gun with a chick behind it.

I don't recall ever being this offended by any Worr Games ads when I shot a cocker... how many units do they sell?

[Miscue]

If that billboard bothers you... you outta see all the hoochi mama 'gentlemen club' billboards plastered all over Vegas, adult mag news stands all over, nudie leaflets all over the ground depending on where you go... a dozen naked girls except for a dental floss thong on every other taxi cab. A huge adult super store I pass by everyday going to and from school... with a big text sign that tells you about the stuff they stock... It's a wonder how any of us in Vegas can go on with our day-to-day lives...

I see this billboard and don't see what the problem is. You can see more skin looking through the lingerie section of the Sears catalog. Take a look! I'm not kidding!

When there's some girl in a thong with her legs over her head and her tongue on a DYE Boomstick with a milk moustache for endorsing increased calcium consumption or something... then ya... I can see a problem.

This billboard is clean and playful... I like it.

You think 14-25 year old guys (approx target audience) will find it offensive? OMG!! My eyes! It's a skantily clad girl! Yeah right... just take a look under their mattresses and see what 'treasures' are hidden.

[shartley]

[Thordic]

Originally posted by tremis


One last thing, I can't believe that the Thordic fan club actually has multiple members.

I was quite surprised as well, it was supposed to be a joke