Mark Hoppus Fender Jaguar Bass

 

This week, I've decided to write about the brand new Fender Mark Hoppus signature basses. Mark plays bass in San Diego's Blink-182, and has had 3 previous signature Fender basses. He is one of the most influential bassists in the pop-punk scene. Fender makes guitars and basses from the affordable side of the spectrum to the expensive side of the spectrum. Their value comes from the fact that their guitars are easily upgradable, and are repairable due to their design philosophy. They also have the most artist signature models showing their appreciation of large artists playing their instruments.

On Instagram, @sandersonnenberg and others asked for a left handed model. Which hopefully they will release one soon, lefties often are an afterthought in the guitar industry. @mrblue182 criticized Fender for the price of the bass, but I believe he fails to realize the cost to make the instrument, with it being completely custom, and requiring shutting down production to change the CNC machines profile to route the bodies. He said "twice the price they should be", but if you half the $1,399 price tag, you would have to remove several features, such as the rosewood fingerboard, seymour duncan pick-up, the string through body, and you would be left with a relatively boring instrument. On YouTube, @StevenDoyleLuke showed excitement for the new bass.

Fender's Instagram page mainly covers new guitar models, finishes, and fresh takes on old models. They also feature videos of people playing their guitars and basses through their amps. Their YouTube channel features tone demos of amplifiers and guitars/basses, and videos on their production process.

Fender made a decent effort on the marketing for Mark's new signature, they made a collaborative post with Mark on Instagram that appeared on the main Fender account, and Mark's account. It included a picture of Mark playing the new model on stage, and it featured a video of Mark talking about the features of the new bass, and why he and Fender teamed up again to make it. Fender also made a YouTube demo with a quite good bass player showing off the tones you can get, and how versatile the new bass is.

On the Instagram post, I couldn't find any loved by creator messages or any replies on messages from Fender. However, on the YouTube video, Fender responded to the praise they received in the comments. One comment thanked Fender for picking a very good player to review the bass and Fender responded with two salute emojis. They also loved comments saying nice things. After a few hours though, they stopped loving and responding to comments. I feel that they could've done a better job responding to commentors by spending more time on replies for the YouTube video, and actually making an effort to respond on Instagram.

If I were the brand manager, I would've made a couple Instagram reels showing off Mark playing his new bass, and I would've responded to peoples comments for at least the first day, maybe the second day. I also would've made a video showing off the evolution of Mark's signature basses since this is his 4th model with Fender. I learned that Fender is impressive when it comes to new artist models, but they could do a little better responding to commentors.

The Chick Mac (Chicken Big Mac)

This week I've decided to write about McDonald's newest sandwich. The 'Chicken Big Mac', the Chick Mac if you will. I think it's interesting that McDonald's is trying to innovate, but at a glance, I thought the Chick Mac was a bad idea.

    McDonald's set out to create a new sandwich that follows their formula. Instead of having 2 beef patties, the Chick Mac has 2 white chicken patties that are breaded in the same breading as the McNuggets. Now McDonald's has addressed consumer complaints with this sandwich. You'll often hear people complain about there being not enough sauce on the Big Mac. The Chick Mac has an ENTIRE OUNCE of secret sauce on it. The chicken is reported to be crispy and is complimented well by sauce, lettuce, pickle, and cheese. Some say that they prefer the Chick Mac to the OG Big Mac. But with all the extra sauce the sandwich is a bit messy.

    McDonald's value proposition today is not what it was when the first restaurant opened. Originally they offered quality food, made to order, and made quickly while being priced at a great value. Their original menu was small and sweet which made it easy to pick options. Today McDonald's value proposition is selling relatively expensive food with a menu that has way too many options. They made my point by releasing the Chick Mac, where they now have 3 different chicken patties with 3 different types of breading. There's the Chick Mac patty, McChicken patty, and McCrispy patty. They have opened themselves up to making mistakes on orders and making customers take longer to figure out what they want. Despite what you think, people don't want options. Take Chick-fil-A for example, a much more successful restaurant chain, they have 8 items on their entree menu, and McDonald's has 20 items on their entree menu.

    To promote the new sandwich, McDonald's used the exterior of the Las Vegas Sphere to play the commercial for the Chick Mac. They also recruited popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat to star in the Chick Mac commercial. Showing off his Lamborghini Urus in the ad and displaying a generated live chat to hype up the sandwich. Kai argues with a choir of people who appear in his backseat that the Chicken Big Mac is not a Big Mac. It was semi-entertaining and probably led to sandwich sales for his viewers for the meme.

    This isn't the first time that a company has had an influencer feature in a commercial. It harkens back to the days when commercials starred celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson in the Capital One commercial. Nowadays however I don't think that celebrity or influencer cameos is the best way to appeal to an audience. It feels lazy to pay someone to endorse your product, especially when it's someone like a YouTuber or Twitch streamer. It feels more like they are selling out and belittling their audience than if an actor were to do an ad.

    The commercial didn't have any substance. It felt like what would've been scrapped as an idea in the late '00s. Instead of showing off their new product, the majority of the ad is a bit that isn't even funny. They could've created an ad that was educational like we have learned is a much better way of selling something. They could've shown the audience with a visual and a voice-over telling them that there's an ENTIRE OUNCE of sauce on the sandwich. That it's high in protein. Or appealing to the consumers by saying “If you love the Big Mac you'll love this! It's the classic that you love with a new refreshing tasty twist". But instead, they made an ad that feels out of touch and doesn't tell us anything about the product.

    I have learned two things from this experience. McDonald's needs to read our textbook, and that McDonald's has an insane 20 items on their entree menu.

Sources:

People.com Article https://people.com/mcdonalds-chicken-big-mac-review-we-tried-it-8726082

Commercial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6QqicirKBA

About Me

Hi, my name is Carter. I'm a business student here at LBCC and plan to go to OSU. I'm in marketing because I find it fascinating how two incredibly minute details can be crucial to an ad failing or succeeding. I look forward to learning tricks to grab people's attention to market a product if I ever end up making one. Outside of college, I mountain bike a lot. I love downhill and when I have free time, you will find me out on the trail. I'm also a hobbyist photographer. 

    The view from my hotel room in Bora Bora