MARKETING QUESTION

Over the months, this blog has had a lot of harmless fun with this item. But this blog has also become genuinely curious: How long will they continue trying to sell a 2005 calendar? Will they ever give up on it? Or will they reduce the price in a shrewd attempt to attract buyers who are in the market for a 2005 calendar, but think ten dollars is too steep? And do they intend to come out with a 2006 model? If so, when? 2007? 2008?

UPDATE: These are also still available.

Comments

[Tamara Rhymes With Camera]

It's a collector's item!

[KDF]

Clearly, they're marketing to time travelers, Dave. And won't we be happy to fling all available copies of this item into the past, for the good of the future?

[bbescuela]

If it's a collector's item, shouldn't the price be going UP?

[Winnie]

Will they ever give up on it?

"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

[herb]

Has anyone alerted puppytoes? HUGE SNORK @ Dave.

*Runs for screen cleaning ointment*

[southerngirl]

Didn't get me today. Nope.

*Neener!*

[Steve]

Frankly, I'm more disturbed by the new 2006 calendar.

[CoastRaven]

OK - so in a fit of masochistic curiosity, I clicked on a couple of the links on the right side of the page. Along with the socks, there are bobbleheads available. A total of 4 have been issued, and one looks more like Rod Stewart, while another looks more like Robert Plant. The other two I couldn’t quite place, but I am thinking Barry Gibb and Conan O'Brien. On a positive note, ole BM MIGHT just be getting the idea after all these years. There are a set of boxer shorts available that have the words "Less Music - More Passion" stitched into them. Follow that advice please Mr BM!!! LESS MUSIC!

I have done this research in a valiant effort to save all of you - my fellow bloggers - the pain and humiliation of having "Official Barry Manilow Merchandise" appear in the next cooperate audit of your computers history file.

[KDF]

You're a good man, CoastRaven. Thanks for takin' one for the team.

*sniffle*

[MOTW]

and speaking of good taste

Not many men have both good fortune and good sense.
Marilyn French

The chief enemy of creativity is "good" sense.
Pablo Picasso

Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.
Alexander Pope

So I guess we can conclude that the item in question is one of creativity, creating fortune, and sublime folly, not one of good taste.

[CoastRaven]

*heads off to the eye sanitation division*

P.S. as a sign that there is hope yet for technology and mankind, Microsoft Outlook does not recognize "Manilow" as a word in its dictionary... of course it doesnt recognize "blog" either.

[Tamara Rhymes With Camera]

Um.... It's going to be a collector's item! ;)

[wolfie]

D*mn. I forgot to check before I clicked.

*heads to eyewash station*

[ASK]

I need your help, Barry Manilow
Your songs can really comfort the unlucky
Sing me a song, sing it sad and low
I wish I didn't have to feel so yucky!

-Ray Stevens

We should all take a moment to be thankful that we aren't miserable enough to be...*gags*...Fanilows.

[Chianca at Large]

Here's another option. And if you're really lucky the plane will crash on the way there.

[Nobody]

Personally, I think the blog should take one for the team and actually ORDER said calendar. The world needs to know if this is just a website snafu or if $10 will REALLY get you last year's calendar. Inquiring(enquiring?) minds want to know.

[MOTW]

good one, ASK *snork*

[artchick]

I was in Vegas recently (on my first book strumpet!) and BM plays at the Hilton. They have a multi-story portrait of him on their sign, which seems as if it would drive the customers away. Inside the Hilton is the Star Trek Experience, so the general impression I got is that they want Barry to end up in outer space. NTTAWWT.

My 2nd book strumpet is tomorrow in Colorado. I hope people actually show up, but that nobody comes bearing a rice crispie oosik (unless they plan to share).

[Mark T]

Will his star EVER stop rising?

[Mark T]

Answer: No. It never, ever will.

[CoastRaven]

ASK!!! I had TOTALLY forgotten that Ray Stevens gem!

And now it will be wigging in my ear all day... could you please play Ahab the Arab to make it go away, or (in today’s world) would that cause embassies to be burned?

[queensbee]

they will keep selling it for the hopelessly nostalgic. or all the people who fell in love during 2005, whilst listening to b.manilow....
ugh. that sounds awful.

[Eleanor]

*zips in*

I think the socks are cute.

*ducks to avoid sock full o' nickels and crawls out*

[jag]

Looks like 2005 calendar will work just fine in 2023. So it's not a complete waste of 10 earth dollars.

The socks however are a complete waste.

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

Hey, what happened to judi's lament about the email thingy that appeared after this?

[OkieDokie]

*thinking about buying one to send to Dave, as he is obviously hinting strongly that he wants one, because he keeps linking to it*

[puppytoes]

did i miss something here?

[CoastRaven]

I was wondering the same thing MKJ - but was afraid I was hallucinating earlier, and everyone would think that I am "altered".

[KDF]

MKJ, I know! I clicked to comment, and *poof* it was gone. Durnit.

Maybe the post and its few comments, or the e:mailers to whom Judi was referring, are traveling through time to find Dave a calendar?

[tropichunt.com guy™]

*zips in*

Hey, is Adonis around? I have a question for her...er, HIM, I mean HIM!

I think...

*zips out*

[ASK]

Hey, that was my 1st first - and now its gone.

Guess I'll write a sad song...

Even now
Though I know it isn't right
And its been almost a year since one was sold
Even now there's still a warehouse
Where they quietly grow mold
And I'm still wond'rin what to do with 2003

Even now
Even now, I have 2000 of them in my car
And Dave's blogged it 3000 times so far
And still they sit and mildew
Even now, EEEEEVEEEENNNN NOOOOOOOOOOOW!

[Peg Leg Pete, CPA]

Mebbe it got forwarded to another email address...

[ASK]

Or DJTB managed to find the return key.

[PirateBoy]

As I'm getting something from my car trunk this morning, I came across the program from the last Manilow concert Mrs. PB and I went to in Vegas. Then, I turn on the radio and they are playing "Ready to Take a Chance Again". All I need to find is my "2 am Paradise Cafe" CD (I know it is here in the office somewhere!) and it will be a great Friday.

What? Why are you all staring at me? Is something unzipped, or perhaps my shirt collar is up?

[djtonyb]

judi deleted it, apparently she's just having one of those days. She reposted it on the DB for Pres messageboard.

[Christobol]

Dave,

The story goes, Barry Manilow Inc. (a wholly owned sibsidiary of Cher Enterprises) thought to cash in on his immense popularity in 1974, and had 1 billion calendars printed for 1975.

They sold 11.

Not wanting to give up, they hurriedly tried to update the calendars to 1976. Unfortunately, by the time '76 rolled around, they had only updated 1200, which were consumed by rats born without tastebuds.

Doing some quick miscalculations, they began updating them to 2005, and told Barry he just HAD to maintain a position in pop culture until then, even if it meant becoming the most hated man in "music".

They got them converted, and sold another 15 copies, mostly as kindling.

They're just a bit tired, and out of ideas at present.

[Metapen]

Of course, a 2005 calendar will be usable again in 2011 (which, like 2005, is a non-leap year that begins on Sunday).

[ted]

Dave --

Two things. 2005 was a big year for Barry with the Vegas gig and his return to Number 1 on the charts.
I imagine his fans would want to remember that with
an expired calendar from the memorable year. Second, maybe it's a 'loss leader' as they say in retail, get you in the door with something cheap, and have you walk out with something you really don't need.

That's my $.02. I will now resume looking for breast related breaking news.

Ted

[sparrow]

Taking a lead from CoastRaven and in the interest of further research for my fellow bloggers, I also ventured into the links on the page - they were on the left side for me. Indeed, I saw the "Less Music. More Passion" boxers for $15 and other fascinating items as well...the "Music and Passion" hoodie for $25 (a little steep, I think), the "2005 Lighted Christmas Ornament" for $25 - one can only imagine, the "Ultimate Manilow Italian Charm Watch" for $30 - I wonder what the "penultimate" charm watch would look like? Various pins: the "Could It Be Magic Logo Pin" for a dollar, the "1996 Manilow Stick Pin" for eight bucks (must be a collector's item) and the "1984, '89 and '91 BMIFC Pins" that ranged from $1 to $5 (I don't know what the initials stand for and don't really want to think about it). The bobble head dolls were truly frightening.

[Christobol]

Ted,

What economic and personal taste brackets are you in when an expired calendar for $10 is "cheap loss leader" that sucks you in?

[Roscoe]

Don't forget that Ted's personal taste bracket includes a mullet.
*ducks*

[slyeyes]

Ted, at least BM got rid of HIS mullet.

[Tamara Rhymes With Camera]

*SNORKS* @ both Cbol posts

[james]

You can re-use calendars every 7 years, you know...unless it's a leap year, in which case it's every 28 years.

[Tamara Rhymes With Camera]

OH, SNAP! Well, in a way. Kinda. Almost. Pretend, ok?

[southerngirl]

Tamara, you took my *snorks* @ C'bol! :D

[pogo]

Heh heh, sparrow said, "penultimate".

[The Sarcasticynic]

Personally, I cannot acquire enough merchandise with the word "Barry" on it.

[Sarah J's mom]

What? BM has socks? He is so totally ripping off Donny's idea!

[Sarah J's mom]

but maybe I can add them to my collection of BM paraphernalia, which is in the box next to my Donny collection (including the purple socks with a lovely picture at the ankle!!)

james:  more like 6 years. Leap Day affects the entire calendar after February, not just one day. So 2011, 2022, 2033, 2037, 2050, 2061 would be the next years that work.

[marlodianne]

You know, everything in that catalogue would still be unspeakably hideous even if it had say, Ioan Gruffudd's or James Marsters face emblazened on it. I mean, merchandise, okay, but it does it really have to be so eye-gougingly cheap and tacky? And yet expensive, very expensive. But any frickin dollar store has more high quality looking items than these...

ps. Artchick, best wishes on the strumpeting. I've been lucky that I've always published with small press, who are delighted in having me do all my strumpeting online. So I have not had to fear facing airport asthma attacks, or $400 Snickers, or, most especially, Gigantor Barry's.

[sparrow]

Question for all: I noticed while browsing the BM merchandise site, that "Starz Points" were needed to purchase some items but not needed for others. Could anyone elaborate on this?

[Layzeeboy]

artchick,

I, too had the misfortune of staying at the Vegas Hilton, not once, but TWICE in the past six months. What's with his picture on the friggin' room key? And the 300' high picture on the side of the building. I'm thinkin' that's intended to keep the pigeons away.

How about the Manilow Store in the lobby! Morbid curiosity drew me in and the clerk actually said to me (I'm not making this up), "You're in luck! The first shipment of the latest bobble head just came in and you can be the first one to buy one!" (I think it was the Conan O'Brien model).

She saved me a lot of money at the Black Jack table, though, as I spent the remainder of my stay wailing and whimpering in the fetal position in my room. "Oh, gaaaaaawwwwd, I was mistaken for a Fanilow!"