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.
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