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Remember when Guy O said...


Guest Not4Pussies

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Guest Not4Pussies

...the non-tradiitonal promo would make sense after tour and after a year had passed by from MDNA's release.

is it making sense?

despite the controversies the tour is one of her best and she has received amazing reviews in America

she did a random promo performance in Paris

she showed up unexpectedly on Ellen

there was a tiny jump for the album in the charts

are there still more things to come in this non-traditional promo era?

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How is that almost exclusively first-week sales? The first week accounts for less than half of the reported 1.55 million.

But, yes, the position won't last long. Nonetheless, not a bad showing for a 30-year vet.

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...the non-tradiitonal promo would make sense after tour and after a year had passed by from MDNA's release.

is it making sense?

despite the controversies the tour is one of her best and she has received amazing reviews in America

she did a random promo performance in Paris

she showed up unexpectedly on Ellen

there was a tiny jump for the album in the charts

are there still more things to come in this non-traditional promo era?

I am not sure what Guy was talking about because nothing really rescued the album. If we are talking about these weekly shifts between 1,500 to 3,800 copies, that is really small potatoes - although as a hardcore fan, I love seeing any additional success (even at a snails pace). However, whether she sells 520,000 or 550,000 will not have industry players following in her footsteps to use this "non-traditional promo playbook".

Yes, the tour is amazing - one of her best - but that really has nothing to do with non-traditional promo.

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Guest Not4Pussies

im not talking just about album sales but as this MDNA era and its non traditional promo as a whole

either Guy O was just talking out of his ass

or he actually meant something with what he said.

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This project is all but dead in the water in Europe and it was all but dead in one of her largest core markets, the UK, as soon as the tour had left in July. This album sold to her fan base which fortunately she has a large one but that was pretty much it. I don't think there is anymore to come. I think Guy was thinking retrospectively. I think he was thinking that by the end of the tour, we'll all look back and go 'Wow! All that non-traditional promo and she scored all those No.1 singles and the album stayed in the charts for months!'

What exactly was the non-traditional promo? All it seemed to be was two twitter chats in the US and a one-off edited concert that turned into a PR disaster in the press?

Superbowl is not non-traditional. It's a live performance of a new track which is the ultimate traditional. Interviews like Ellen are traditional too. Smirfnoff night life exchange thing? Smirnoff recently announced that they were dropping the campagin as only the people that attended felt engaged with the brand.

At the start they said there would be multiple releases, videos and physical copies. By the third single, we've not even got a CD single although one is rumoured to be coming months after release. Also, it's been confirmed there won't be a fourth single!

What could they possibly do to inject any life into the project? The media think the project flopped and won't give a damn a year after it's release.

We'll get a DVD/CD and that will be it. They've done the bare bones of promotion and they will be happy with the results. I would love something amazing to happen but it won't.

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am I the only one here who thinks that MDNA could've sold more if M's people went the TRADITIONAL promo route?

whatever they want to call it, I do hope they don't do it again for her next album...

and I really hope they go back to the 4th quarter release scheme...

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When they released that promo video from opening night, I honestly believed him and thought the promo was actually gonna come from the tour, ie. broadcasting live performances on talk shows, and doing sit down interviews..., but nada.

Oh we'll.

If M gets enough Grammy nods, they'd be smart to plan a single around her performing it at the award show.

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am I the only one here who thinks that MDNA could've sold more if M's people went the TRADITIONAL promo route?

whatever they want to call it, I do hope they don't do it again for her next album...

and I really hope they go back to the 4th quarter release scheme...

with all honesty, i don't think the traditional promo route would have worked, since she had taken all the time to rehearse. It was a well though out decision to ditch the album promo and focus on the tour and i don't think we would should expect anything else or have high expectations in terms of promo from future albums.

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If there will be no traditional promo for the next album, there is even less hope for another hit single and without it the next tour, unless it's a GH tour, does not stand any chance of getting MDNA tour numbers again. A non-traditional promo results, especially in Europe, have surely given them some sort of an idea about that. Let's hope for the best.

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I wonder when people will start to realize that Twitter, Facebook, social media and YouTube means NOTHING. You can have a zillion views and that doesn't mean people will buy your album. Have heavy radio playing and traditional promo and you have like 10 times more chances!

Remember Rick Astley rickrolling? I don't recall people buying Never Gonna Give You Up. No wonder Facebook shares are going to the pits, it's all smoke and mirrors.

ROL and Confessions are perfect examples of how a promo should be! Even if you don't boost sales that much, you give a good impression to main public, like that French performance with Hung Up and Get Together in that Fame Academy. I'm sure it made loads more than the Olympia gig.

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with all honesty, i don't think the traditional promo route would have worked, since she had taken all the time to rehearse. It was a well though out decision to ditch the album promo and focus on the tour and i don't think we would should expect anything else or have high expectations in terms of promo from future albums.

Maybe next time she releases an album with correct timing. Or starts the tour much later.

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I wonder when people will start to realize that Twitter, Facebook, social media and YouTube means NOTHING. You can have a zillion views and that doesn't mean people will buy your album. Have heavy radio playing and traditional promo and you have like 10 times more chances!

Thank you.

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Those Grammy nominations and the tour income are certainly giving them a (false) impression that everything is alright. In a financial point of view it surely is, but in the big picture she ends this era without any major hit that could guarantee her future on this business. If you think about it, her TRADITIONAL schedule for ROL, Music and COAD are the responsibles for her current touring relevancy.

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In my opinion Guy made a wrong call with his "non-traditional" promo. I think a combination of traditional and new media would have worked better for someone like her. It had it's ups like the twitter session and iTunes presale but a lot of downs and - I think - poor single choices combined with a total lack of promotion (again). I hope next time they'll do better.

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In my opinion Guy made a wrong call with his "non-traditional" promo. I think a combination of traditional and new media would have worked better for someone like her. It had it's ups like the twitter session and iTunes presale but a lot of downs and - I think - poor single choices combined with a total lack of promotion (again). I hope next time they'll do better.

me too: and, although they won´t say nothing public about the bad promotion, I´m sure they know they made a mistake

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...the non-tradiitonal promo would make sense after tour and after a year had passed by from MDNA's release.

is it making sense?

Ok, rant coming up...

What has worked:

  • selling tour tickets right after the SuperBowl, and portraying an incredibly tame Madonna on stage who happily sang her classics;
  • releasing Give Me All Your Luvin' single and video roughly at the same time;
  • getting a second single out soon after the first, as it has become customary;

But it's not just about sales. Sales help you drive profits now, but without the appropiate "buzz," story, mythology around an album/era, any long-term success is put in jeopardy... Now they're gonna have to work that much harder if they want to sell albums or tour tickets next time around, unless they are banking on her doing one last Greatest Hits tour and call it quits. Otherwise, they have A LOT of making up to do.

And on that front, her management team has objectively failed with this promo. They never knew how to tell the story of MDNA or who to tell it to. Until the tour began, they also did a lousy job packaging "Madonna," the character. It's what Karbatal and others here are talking about.

Was MDNA supposed to be a happy album, as first claimed, or a fucked up divorce-album, as it became apparent? Was it supposed to be artistically challenging or pure pop? Was it Top 40 stuff or club stuff, and why wasn't it handled accordingly? Between the tame SuperBowl presentation and the crazy bitch that showed up on Girl Gone Wild, how did they want Madonna to appear to the general public? Was she the party chick showing up at the Miami Festival or the tame bore that gave that 20/20 or Dateline interview, geared towards boring moms?

This is a big part of why people don't know she has an album out; or why they think she's scrambling for attention during the tour; or why they think the music is too bland or too violent or too boring or too hyper. It's because her promo team has not presented a consistent experience about MDNA. The only ones who find consistency and pleasure in this experience is us, and that's because we have put the time and effort and love into it. (By the way, besides this rant, I'm loving all of my Madonna 2012).

What didn't work, in particular:

meaningless brand deals with the wrong kind of product associations, as in that stupid Miami festival appearance and the ridiculous series of Smirnoff nightmares we've been subjected to;

not having twitter chats in different time zones;

letting Perez Hilton post snippets of MDNA three weeks in advance of album release, as opposed to streaming the ENTIRE album via SoundCloud or Spotify and letting SERIOUS media outlets pick up the story and eat it up;

not doing specific TV promo in major markets while on tour. it's unconceivable that she spent a few nights in the U.K. and did jack shit to promote the tour and album;

not having quick reflexes to "re-launch" MDNA with Girl Gone Wild after they realized that Give Me All Your Luvin' was plummeting in the charts, and then taking FIVE MONTHS to release a third single which continued to reinforce the idea that her album is not musically adventurous (her last successful reinventions have all been constructed around this idea).

Ok, bye.

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I admit this is the very first Madonna album that i only listened to the first days. Some songs are great, but the whole package is unatracttive to me. That means that these songs are the very first that i don't know by heart. I even can recite the entire 'Spanish Lesson' or 'Incredible' from Hard Candy and and i couldn't sing the first verse of 'Im Addicted" even though i like that song a thousand times more! MDNA is simply wrong in my opinion. Of course, it's only mine and other people can enjoy it a lot.

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Ok, rant coming up...

What has worked:

  • selling tour tickets right after the SuperBowl, and portraying an incredibly tame Madonna on stage who happily sang her classics;
  • releasing Give Me All Your Luvin' single and video roughly at the same time;
  • getting a second single out soon after the first, as it has become customary;

But it's not just about sales. Sales help you drive profits now, but without the appropiate "buzz," story, mythology around an album/era, any long-term success is put in jeopardy... Now they're gonna have to work that much harder if they want to sell albums or tour tickets next time around, unless they are banking on her doing one last Greatest Hits tour and call it quits. Otherwise, they have A LOT of making up to do.

And on that front, her management team has objectively failed with this promo. They never knew how to tell the story of MDNA or who to tell it to. Until the tour began, they also did a lousy job packaging "Madonna," the character. It's what Karbatal and others here are talking about.

Was MDNA supposed to be a happy album, as first claimed, or a fucked up divorce-album, as it became apparent? Was it supposed to be artistically challenging or pure pop? Was it Top 40 stuff or club stuff, and why wasn't it handled accordingly? Between the tame SuperBowl presentation and the crazy bitch that showed up on Girl Gone Wild, how did they want Madonna to appear to the general public? Was she the party chick showing up at the Miami Festival or the tame bore that gave that 20/20 or Dateline interview, geared towards boring moms?

This is a big part of why people don't know she has an album out; or why they think she's scrambling for attention during the tour; or why they think the music is too bland or too violent or too boring or too hyper. It's because her promo team has not presented a consistent experience about MDNA. The only ones who find consistency and pleasure in this experience is us, and that's because we have put the time and effort and love into it. (By the way, besides this rant, I'm loving all of my Madonna 2012).

What didn't work, in particular:

meaningless brand deals with the wrong kind of product associations, as in that stupid Miami festival appearance and the ridiculous series of Smirnoff nightmares we've been subjected to;

not having twitter chats in different time zones;

letting Perez Hilton post snippets of MDNA three weeks in advance of album release, as opposed to streaming the ENTIRE album via SoundCloud or Spotify and letting SERIOUS media outlets pick up the story and eat it up;

not doing specific TV promo in major markets while on tour. it's unconceivable that she spent a few nights in the U.K. and did jack shit to promote the tour and album;

not having quick reflexes to "re-launch" MDNA with Girl Gone Wild after they realized that Give Me All Your Luvin' was plummeting in the charts, and then taking FIVE MONTHS to release a third single which continued to reinforce the idea that her album is not musically adventurous (her last successful reinventions have all been constructed around this idea).

Ok, bye.

I agree to this but maybe they just dont care about album sales. Idk anymore but I too enjoyed M 2012 very much so.

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Her hits have been more and more sparse even in her most guaranteed markets for about 10 years now. In the past 10 years, only HU and 4M have been massive, worldwide hits. All the others have been "minor hits" or flops and she has released a lot of good singles during that time. Obviously she would've sold more with traditional promo, but it would've been peanuts in the grand scheme of things. The #2 selling album in the world this year (One Direction) so far has sold a little over 3 million, MDNA has sold a little over 1.5 million. That's such a small window, why even focus on that?? And let's be realistic here for a moment, do we REALLY expect Madonna to outsell the latest "boy band" that is hot with the kids at the moment?? I don't think so. She wasn't outselling NKOTB in '89 or BSB in '99 either. I don't care how much promo she does. Having seen the tour, I DEFINITELY think her time and energy was better spent putting the MDNA tour together than putting in a ton of effort to promote an album that may sell another paltry million more copies when all is said and done. More than the "hits" of the past decade, I think it's her reputation as a phenomenal live performer that has kept the ticket sales brisk for her. Let's face it, even hot on the heels of the ROL/Music "career resurrection" fans were still complaining about lack of hits on DWT.....same with CT. I think most casual fans go for the classics and the experience as a whole, not necessarily the current hits.

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Her hits have been more and more sparse even in her most guaranteed markets for about 10 years now. In the past 10 years, only HU and 4M have been massive, worldwide hits. All the others have been "minor hits" or flops and she has released a lot of good singles during that time. Obviously she would've sold more with traditional promo, but it would've been peanuts in the grand scheme of things. The #2 selling album in the world this year (One Direction) so far has sold a little over 3 million, MDNA has sold a little over 1.5 million. That's such a small window, why even focus on that?? And let's be realistic here for a moment, do we REALLY expect Madonna to outsell the latest "boy band" that is hot with the kids at the moment?? I don't think so. She wasn't outselling NKOTB in '89 or BSB in '99 either. I don't care how much promo she does. Having seen the tour, I DEFINITELY think her time and energy was better spent putting the MDNA tour together than putting in a ton of effort to promote an album that may sell another paltry million more copies when all is said and done. More than the "hits" of the past decade, I think it's her reputation as a phenomenal live performer that has kept the ticket sales brisk for her. Let's face it, even hot on the heels of the ROL/Music "career resurrection" fans were still complaining about lack of hits on DWT.....same with CT. I think most casual fans go for the classics and the experience as a whole, not necessarily the current hits.

'

I think you are absolutely right, in terms of sales being really good, and in terms of her not needing to pack 3 or 4 massive hits in every album anymore. But sales being what they are, and the final product being consistently ranked positively, why is it widely believed that this album is a flop? Why does no one know the first thing about it? She didn't need to do much more promo, you are right, but her team could've done a much better job at promoting and providing a consistent story to sell it, or at least to keep music fans interested in checking it out. No one who is not a fan will ever care to listen to this album, and that is such a pity. HER time was better spent preparing for the tour; her team's wasn't.

They are doing her a disservice by being complacent about her tour power and banking on hits from 20 years ago.

Perception is Reality.

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