Epiphone BS Marketing

[Dave W]

Epi has a new line of acoustic guitars called the PRO-1. I'll leave it to you to decide how "pro" a line that starts at $119 could be. But they have "bold new features" to make the guitars easier to play. An "EZProfile" neck.    not just jumbo frets, but "JumboPRO" frets.   "PRO-Ease lubricant on the fretboard.  Light strings and a shorter scale length to make it easier, even though it's just a regular Gibson 24 3/4".

Sure sounds revolutionary to me!

If all this bullshit weren't bad enough, here's their marketing video.



How low can Gibson sink? Wait, no, don't answer that.

[Chris P.]

I guess it's always the same. Really pro stuff is concidered pro and people know it. If an instrument or amp is called Pro or a car is called Sport you know enough. Happens all the time:) I can laugh about it.

[gearHed289]

Really bad stuff. I can't believe they paid somebody to do that. They might as well have turned over the camera to the janitorial crew.

[Pilgrim]

50 seconds of visual distraction and 10 seconds of unsubstantiated product claims.

But I do like the logo on the headstock.  Reminds me of the "Kelvinator" logos.

[Dave W]

In the heyday of Gibson - Epiphone competition, 75-80 years ago, Gibson came up with the "only a Gibson is good enough" slogan and Epiphone then advertised itself as "when 'good enough' isn't good enough". Those were the days! Now it's marketing by sideshow freaks.

I guess it's always the same. Really pro stuff is concidered pro and people know it. If an instrument or amp is called Pro or a car is called Sport you know enough. Happens all the time:) I can laugh about it.

Wait... you mean Sport Utility Vehicles aren't sports cars? 

You're right, if it's called professional, it almost always isn't (the old Les Paul Professional was a rare exception). It's a marketing technique to make people feel better about buying something cheap.

[Granny Gremlin]

The LP pro isn't an exception - the "it it's called 'pro'" rule applies only to things made after 1970 (with a bit of a grey area transition period in the late 60s).  This corresponds with the coining of the term 'marketing' as a legit field of study at  the post-secondary level.

(mostly  , but actually somewhat true - there was a great rethink/advance in advertising theory in the early 60s - think of the transition from 50s fact based ads to more subtle you wanna feel this/be this ads by the mid 60s).

[Pilgrim]

I have the feeling that "It's called a pro series" relates closely to the old concept "If it don't go, chrome it."