sound in the mail

March 19, 2010 12:17 PM

If an ad agency sent me this, I would be impressed.
posted by archivist (34 comments total)

good lord, but that's cool...
("stick a needle in it!")
posted by artof.mulata at 12:22 PM on March 19, 2010

said GGRP partner Gord Lord, in a release.

How many of you saw this and thought "Good Lord? What an awesome name?"
posted by desjardins at 12:27 PM on March 19, 2010 [8 favorites]

That is awesome!
posted by anniecat at 12:27 PM on March 19, 2010

"It's actually shocking how good the sound quality is!". Man, it's not like this is some ancient object! This is just a variation on the old trick of fixing a scratch on a record with a sewing needle and a cone of paper. Not that it's not cool, it totally is, but they're reacting to it like it's an Edison cylinder or something.
posted by DecemberBoy at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I understand what it is, but why? It doesn't seem to explain why they're sending these out to people other than "hey, cool!" Did I miss something?
posted by Sova at 12:37 PM on March 19, 2010

I understand what it is, but why?

They're sending them to ad agencies to say "hey, cool! look what we can do! now come up with some way that you can use this to help market your clients' stuff and pay us a bundle to create the package for you!"
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 12:41 PM on March 19, 2010

I understand what it is, but why?

They're sending them to ad agencies to say "hey, cool! look what we can do! now come up with some way that you can use this to help market your clients' stuff and pay us a bundle to create the package for you!"

Nope. It's a promotional piece sent by an audio house to a bunch of ad agencies (not something the ad agencies are sending out, as the FPP implies). Ad agencies tend to form the bulk of the clientele at audio houses like like that. They're marketing themselves to potential clients. And the article implies that it's working.
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:42 PM on March 19, 2010

How to make your own homemade record player - a video playing out what DecemberBoy described.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:42 PM on March 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Whoops. Missed an italic on the second quote ("They're sending....").
posted by Nothing... and like it at 12:43 PM on March 19, 2010

Exceptionally cool! :)

When it comes to publicity, there are a few companies that specialize in creating this sort of special packaging for media kits, so they will attract attention and hopefully get an editor to look inside at the contents. Sometimes, it backfires wildly. I remember a PR agency that sent a small garden box, complete with soil and seeds to editors for a green product retail promotion, but didn't alert editors that the soil was loose inside. Many of them apparently opened the box unsuspectingly, and accidentally dumped a couple of cups of soil all over their desks. I showed up in someone's office for a deskside visit and spent ~20 minutes watching them rant at an agency rep about their newly ruined keyboard, clothing and papers.
posted by zarq at 12:48 PM on March 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

Reminds me of Cereal Box Records.
posted by vapidave at 12:50 PM on March 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Oh, and by any chance any of you have thought about giving soil and seeds as a gift, do yourself a favor and don't package the stuff in an airtight aluminum can. Those tend to explode after a year or so. Not that I'd know from personal experience, or anything.
posted by zarq at 12:55 PM on March 19, 2010

It's a promotional piece sent by an audio house to a bunch of ad agencies (not something the ad agencies are sending out, as the FPP implies).

oops, thanks for the clarification N...ALI. My bad.
posted by archivist at 1:02 PM on March 19, 2010

Actually, an ad agency (Grey Vancouver) helped GGRP develop this advertising tactic so they could advertise their products and services, mostly to other agencies.
posted by Mister_A at 1:08 PM on March 19, 2010

That made my analog day. Brilliant idea, smart execution. Thanks!
posted by dbiedny at 1:10 PM on March 19, 2010

The failure here is the news of this promo piece has eclipsed Griffiths, Gibson and Ramsay Productions total web presence. One can assume they have a website, but I can't find it using the google.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:27 PM on March 19, 2010

However, if you use the name that they go by on all their materials, they show up just fine. Not that they need to! It's not a retail biz where you need lots of virtual walk-ins.
posted by Mister_A at 1:36 PM on March 19, 2010

HAIL GORD LORD
posted by nanojath at 1:36 PM on March 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

And to redeem that comment, super cheesy promotional video for said promotional record
posted by nanojath at 1:40 PM on March 19, 2010

the real GOuRD LORD
posted by archivist at 1:41 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

This last December, a big audio facility sent out 24-pack cases of Thunderbird, with paper bags. Ha! Because business has been so bad this year! Nobody can afford expensive swag!
Except that a case of Thunderbird is at least $20 with shipping, and is actually undrinkable. So what they did was essentially send a box filled with useless garbage that everyone had sitting around their company kitchen for a week before throwing it out. I took our box to a Bushwick commune. For the amount of money they spent on a stupid stunt, they could have gotten us an ACTUAL BOTTLE OF GOOD WINE.
posted by 235w103 at 1:42 PM on March 19, 2010

I would have given the Thunderbird to some drunks, but then I am not part of the solution.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:45 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Not as cool as those little cars that drove around the record to play it ... Record Runners! Here's a CNET video.

Oh, you have to turn it yourself? Definitely not as cool.
posted by mrgrimm at 1:58 PM on March 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

(from my link above) It looks like a Japanese company called Razy Works sells a BMW version of Record Runners called Vinyl Killers.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:12 PM on March 19, 2010

I love how vinyl has persisted. In our digital age, it becomes hard to imagine listening to something with no batteries or electricity involved, and yet, with just some bits of paper and a needle, you can have actual music.

It's one of those things that is so low tech, it actually seems super advanced.
posted by quin at 2:17 PM on March 19, 2010

Do the instructions look like this?
posted by Ratio at 2:34 PM on March 19, 2010

Actually, an ad agency (Grey Vancouver) helped GGRP develop this advertising tactic so they could advertise their products and services, mostly to other agencies.

Thanks! This is why I found it so confusing: I couldn't work out why ad agencies were both sending and receiving this, and what the hell the GGRP had to do with it. I guess working in an ad agency is kinda neat if you get to send and receive cool stuff all the time. I only ever get a pen and a sachet of cat food.
posted by Sova at 3:13 PM on March 19, 2010

When they can make a CD player out of nothing but folded cardboard, I'll be impressed.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:29 PM on March 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bah. The ad company "created" it? When they've been using exactly this technology for decades to distribute brochures in the Third World where the people you need to reach are often illiterate?

Don't get me wrong, it's neat and I've always loved it. But my hackles raise at the notion of these people "creating" this idea.
posted by Michael Roberts at 3:37 PM on March 19, 2010

Yeah, I just saw this somewhere online -- but it was done with a flexidisc decades ago. Still great, though.
posted by suedehead at 5:04 PM on March 19, 2010

I don't think they're implying that they invented the record player, assuming that is what you're suggesting.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 5:04 PM on March 19, 2010

I remember as a kid playing 45's on my uncle's cheapo record player, without the power. On certain types of turntable the vibrations travelled well enough that you could hear a trebly (is that a word?) version of the track. So young, so geeky..
posted by Hardcore Poser at 5:08 PM on March 19, 2010

When it comes to publicity, there are a few companies that specialize in creating this sort of special packaging for media kits, so they will attract attention and hopefully get an editor to look inside at the contents. Sometimes, it backfires wildly.

I can't find the story now, but a few years ago an ad company sent crates labeled "Explosive" or something to generate buzz and got into some legal trouble.
posted by ODiV at 6:33 PM on March 19, 2010

Reminded me of a story on NPR a few weeks ago about how "Poles would get a sound postcard in the mail, put it on their record player and gain access to unauthorized copies of western pop music, along with the occasional Polish tune too."
posted by hypersloth at 8:43 PM on March 19, 2010