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SOLO - 'The Mystery Of The Incompetent Marketing Campaign'

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  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    edited October 2013 Posts: 9,117
    Only these figures despite me passing posters advertising it on the tube and there being articles in the papers (not just reviews) - how many of those 300 books had that?

    This is identical to 007 Legends - not only have you got an inferior product to sell but you decide to really hamstring yourself further by putting it up against the biggest releases of the year.

    Why does nobody in the world of Bond apart from EON (and their marketing strategy is no doubt decided by the studio) have even the vaguest clue about maximising the Bond brand?

    The bottom line though is if you keep selling shit products people eventually stop buying them which is what appears to have happened here.
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Bounine wrote:
    In terms of promotion, they didn't do much until right at the last minute.

    Indeed, so they only have themselves to blame really. They had plenty of prior warning if they read over this thread, though. Literary Bond fans often know best and this is a case in point.

    Literary Bondfans, really that is what you are going with??? :-))

    Anybody with a bit of common sense would have looked at this release and wondered were the PR was coming from especially with all the current releases that makes SOLO just not that special.
    My lateste buys would be the new Nesbo, Tartt & King and they came with a shedload more noise in the public awereness than SOLO.

  • BentleyBentley
    Posts: 267
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Only these figures despite me passing posters advertising it on the tube and there being articles in the papers (not just reviews) - how many of those 300 books had that?

    The bottom line though is if you keep selling shit products people eventually stop buying them which is what appears to have happened here.

    Unfortunately you are completely correct.
    I for one, am an enthusiast, not an extremist and would have liked nothing better than to have had a great book but frankly if Faulks and Deaver's efforts were bad, and they were, this one just takes the biscuit. If it had not been a Bond novel, I would not have got past the first sixty pages. It is as bad as that!

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited October 2013 Posts: 17,800
    The pastiche and smoke and mirrors of a bad Bond novel are nauseating at three in the morning.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited October 2013 Posts: 18,281
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Only these figures despite me passing posters advertising it on the tube and there being articles in the papers (not just reviews) - how many of those 300 books had that?

    This is identical to 007 Legends - not only have you got an inferior product to sell but you decide to really hamstring yourself further by putting it up against the biggest releases of the year.

    Why does nobody in the world of Bond apart from EON (and their marketing strategy is no doubt decided by the studio) have even the vaguest clue about maximising the Bond brand?

    The bottom line though is if you keep selling shit products people eventually stop buying them which is what appears to have happened here.

    I think the Wizard is spot on here - you can really only fool people so much with inferior products.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    Dragonpol wrote:
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Only these figures despite me passing posters advertising it on the tube and there being articles in the papers (not just reviews) - how many of those 300 books had that?

    This is identical to 007 Legends - not only have you got an inferior product to sell but you decide to really hamstring yourself further by putting it up against the biggest releases of the year.

    Why does nobody in the world of Bond apart from EON (and their marketing strategy is no doubt decided by the studio) have even the vaguest clue about maximising the Bond brand?

    The bottom line though is if you keep selling shit products people eventually stop buying them which is what appears to have happened here.

    I think the Wizard is spot on here - you can really only fool people so much with inferior products.

    To quote a certain Mr Craig: 'Its like selling anything - washing machines, handmade shoes, blow jobs. As long as you don't take the piss people will come back for more.'
  • BounineBounine
    edited October 2013 Posts: 2,599
    :)
    Dragonpol wrote:
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    Only these figures despite me passing posters advertising it on the tube and there being articles in the papers (not just reviews) - how many of those 300 books had that?

    This is identical to 007 Legends - not only have you got an inferior product to sell but you decide to really hamstring yourself further by putting it up against the biggest releases of the year.

    Why does nobody in the world of Bond apart from EON (and their marketing strategy is no doubt decided by the studio) have even the vaguest clue about maximising the Bond brand?

    The bottom line though is if you keep selling shit products people eventually stop buying them which is what appears to have happened here.

    I think the Wizard is spot on here - you can really only fool people so much with inferior products.

    Yes, this is what I was worried would happen after Carte Blanche. Two low quality Bond books in a row back at this stage. Still, the promotion for Solo was non existent until right before it was released so they may have made a little more

    Still, let's see what happens in the coming weeks. Good or bad book, there are many positive reviews out there on the newspaper/magazine websites. In terms of word of mouth on behalf of non die hard Bond fans...well, I'm not sure what they're saying.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    TheWizardOfIce wrote:
    To quote a certain Mr Craig: 'Its like selling anything - washing machines, handmade shoes, blow jobs. As long as you don't take the piss people will come back for more.'

    One for the history books.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    chrisisall wrote:
    The pastiche and smoke and mirrors of a bad Bond novel are nauseating at three in the morning.

    Brilliant! Love it, @chrisisall.
  • BentleyBentley
    Posts: 267
    4EverBonded wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    The pastiche and smoke and mirrors of a bad Bond novel are nauseating at three in the morning.

    Brilliant! Love it, @chrisisall.

    Love it and it describes completely my state at 3:00 am on Friday 27th September 2013!

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    4EverBonded wrote:
    chrisisall wrote:
    The pastiche and smoke and mirrors of a bad Bond novel are nauseating at three in the morning.
    Brilliant! Love it, @chrisisall.

    Like Q said, an obvious little notion.
  • NapoleonPluralNapoleonPlural
    Posts: 512
    That Craig quote (maybe not original, dunno) is very good, better than most of his Bond lines, if a little crude.

    I don't think it's a good idea when writers research Bond by reading all the Fleming novels, and it seems Boyd has slipped into pastiche. There is stuff you forgive with Fleming, I mean that chat he has with the driver en route to Shrublands, about how he and the lads visited knocking shops and there was a woman at Shrublands who was a right goer, I mean, what's that all about? To be fair, had any of the continuation writers had a scene like that, it would be WTF?
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    NapoleonPlural wrote:
    To be fair, had any of the continuation writers had a scene like that, it would be WTF?
    It might. There ARE a few moments in Fleming books that feel strange. I can forgive a lot in a continuation novel as long as it paints a complete & interesting picture by the end.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited October 2013 Posts: 18,281
    For those interested and in the vicinity the Irish Daily Mail today has an A-Z of 007 written by William Boyd no less and focusing on the literary Bond. I imagine that this was pretty under the radar, as I don't think it was replicated in the Daily Mail. Strange.
  • JamesPageJamesPage Administrator, Moderator, Director
    Posts: 1,380
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2433773/James-Bond-Think-know-Bond-Think-William-Boyd-reveals-secret-life-spy-panics-planes-pop-pills-brace--blubs-like-girl.html
  • SaintMarkSaintMark
    Posts: 7,653
    JamesPage wrote:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2433773/James-Bond-Think-know-Bond-Think-William-Boyd-reveals-secret-life-spy-panics-planes-pop-pills-brace--blubs-like-girl.html

    Boyd does seem to know his Bond facts.

    Thanks for the entertaining read.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,355
    Great article. Thanks for posting @JamesPage.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    JamesPage wrote:
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/event/article-2433773/James-Bond-Think-know-Bond-Think-William-Boyd-reveals-secret-life-spy-panics-planes-pop-pills-brace--blubs-like-girl.html
    Yes, very fascinating, and it gives me all the more hope that I will enjoy his Bond novel immensely.
  • RWIG45RWIG45
    Posts: 5
    I've really enjoyed SOLO thus far and can't wait to rech the end. I hope they will get Boyd to do another, or even ask Faulks to try again as I enjoyed DEVIL MAY CARE a great deal as well.

    Randy
  • BounineBounine
    edited October 2013 Posts: 2,599
    I really enjoyed SOLO too. Too bad it isn't doing well in terms of sales in the UK. They'll have to start promoting it a lot earlier next time. As I've said before, I really hope that IFP get someone to write at least 4 or 5 next time. This way the author can learn from his/her mistakes and improve upon them. One author per book just isn't an effective plan. An established author but a less famous one who doesn't have his own strict set of ideas and is willing to adapt would be a good idea.
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