Three more months to Carnival and with only two and a half bands sold out in the face of a global recession it is any one's guess how many Carnival bands will survive after Carnival 2009!
Contrary to popular gossip Saucy and Carnival Jumbie are not responsible for the lack of masqueraders registering in certain bands. The fact is prices are too high for an unknown band asking people to gamble on a chance that the band will deliver on said promises. In addition it seems that a bikini is not just a bikini and a board shorts is not just a board shorts! If your costumes are not cute or remotely attractive who is going to be paying the exorbitant price to parade around in an ugly bikini? Clearly not many people see the costume as "just a bikini" or else we would have masqueraders registering in droves all along Ariapita Avenue.
Finally the marketing strategy of bus limes and mas camp limes is not working; don't blame people for drinking out your free alcohol and not even glancing at a costume when that is what you are offering.. fire the marketing team and come again! The only thing to save some of these bands is costume redesign and DROP THE PRICES!! These bands are too fresh to think that they are TRIBE or Island People pricing costumes accordingly, especially when the costumes are NOT CUTE!
And you may think I am being harsh this morning, but I am simply astonished at the gumption of some of these bands that will not do something to change the situation that they are in! Hello, the world is in a recession, people are cutting back on spending,some are losing their jobs and many people will not even make it to Carnival 2009 so who are you waiting on to buy these costumes at the last minute? Yes I am asking YOU that question! The time has come to do something drastic and do it quick or else I am afraid we will see only micro bands on the road supported by their ever faithful committee members for Carnival IF they make it on the road at all.
So the question of the day is, of the new bands that debuted for 2008/2009 which one/s do you think, unfortunately, will "buss" ?
Contrary to popular gossip Saucy and Carnival Jumbie are not responsible for the lack of masqueraders registering in certain bands. The fact is prices are too high for an unknown band asking people to gamble on a chance that the band will deliver on said promises. In addition it seems that a bikini is not just a bikini and a board shorts is not just a board shorts! If your costumes are not cute or remotely attractive who is going to be paying the exorbitant price to parade around in an ugly bikini? Clearly not many people see the costume as "just a bikini" or else we would have masqueraders registering in droves all along Ariapita Avenue.
Finally the marketing strategy of bus limes and mas camp limes is not working; don't blame people for drinking out your free alcohol and not even glancing at a costume when that is what you are offering.. fire the marketing team and come again! The only thing to save some of these bands is costume redesign and DROP THE PRICES!! These bands are too fresh to think that they are TRIBE or Island People pricing costumes accordingly, especially when the costumes are NOT CUTE!
And you may think I am being harsh this morning, but I am simply astonished at the gumption of some of these bands that will not do something to change the situation that they are in! Hello, the world is in a recession, people are cutting back on spending,some are losing their jobs and many people will not even make it to Carnival 2009 so who are you waiting on to buy these costumes at the last minute? Yes I am asking YOU that question! The time has come to do something drastic and do it quick or else I am afraid we will see only micro bands on the road supported by their ever faithful committee members for Carnival IF they make it on the road at all.
So the question of the day is, of the new bands that debuted for 2008/2009 which one/s do you think, unfortunately, will "buss" ?
26 comments:
All I have to say is FIIIIII--RRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
Good Friday Morning peopleee!! lolol
ERRMMM saucy, i think that you made a major typo by putting d krewe eh :/ .... just my .02
For some reason I feel spice have what it takes. Their costumes are nice and their website was up in a timely manner. Honestly I thought that all the IP and TRIBE goers that didnt get in woulda go there. But who knows more than Sauce when coming to these things. I juss glad I register with a band not on the list!
Kris I included the bands that came out in 2008/2009, although some bands are making a second year in my opinion they are still at risk at not surviving the game.
I was rooting for Spice as well but that size issue might be a detriment.. maybe if they had more sizes available more of the band would be sold out by now.
"These bands are too fresh to think that they are TRIBE or Island People" LMAO, thats a classic, I agree with you, they have to wheel and come again ;)
I have one comment in light of your article. while i agree with the jist of it, I don't think we can assume that the 2 and a half bands that are sold out will actually remain so...
what percentage of the patronage are returning trinis?
how many of them can afford to pay for the balance of their costumes given the economic situation in the US (which is grim by all accounts that i am hearing)
as for the rest of the article, people price stuff based on the current trends of prices in the market..so they figure they can charge those prices and still attract a sizable membership.
but i think its more than just the 'bikini and board shorts" that the carnival consumer is going for, its the appeal of playing in an 'it' band, where all the happening people are at, which these younger bands have not yet established. superficial but true really IMO.
exactly Aneka, the newbie bands have not established them self as any kind of "it" band yet they are charging "it" band prices.
As for the sold out bands, I do not foresee them having a big problem getting costumes sold if people cannot come to Trinidad for Carnival...and they can always do what was done for 2008... sell the costumes to other Carnivals..
There are numerous people out there with cash in hand begging someone to take it for a TRIBE costume, (see carnivaljunction.com.)and besides downpayments are non refundable. TRIBE's waiting list is actually closed due to overwhelming requests for costumes, and not a single costume has been returned for resale, which would indeed sell. For most of the people in the US attending Carnival, including myself, its business as usual :)
I think that carnival 2k9 will be interesting on many levels. at the end of the day i think we are going to see many 'casualties' of carnival, and it could impact on its overall survival, based on how prices etc are going of course...and i not only talking about costumes but fetes and other events.
carnival baby, consider yourself fortunate that you are still 'buisness as usual' some of my friends who were intent on coming here next year have had to change plans, out of uncertainty.
Now that you mention it Aneka, the fetes might really be another story, I have a feeling that some popular ones might go under.
I know people who are not too sure they can make it for carnival, waiting to see if they have a job next month, I know others who have jobs but cannot come because the time is not right to take time off and I know others who simply cannot afford to come any longer because they have no jobs.
Some who have budgeted and paid for accommodation, costumes etc say they are only coming because they have already made provisions for it... we shall see what happens for Carnival 2010!
Oh I also know others who used to be two band/ two section H.O.s that are forced to play in one section.
all i have to say is PREAAACCCHHHH SAUCY!!!!
All you all creating is a set a panic. Ah hear a certain band on tragarete road giving away costumes to people who just coming in to look. I agree if yuh costume prices too high drop them, but not that far. Mas is a business, treat it as such. Kaotic have the best costumes, at the most reasonable prices check them out. Value fuh money.
Joseph I am curious as to how we are creating panic? Aye what band is that in Tragarete Road? I need a costume for Monday :P
On a serious note some of these bands are treating the mas NOT as a business but as a little private club for their committee members...how can you have a BUS LIME to promote your band yet the bus lime is not open to the public and the girls on the bus are more interested in getting inebriated than doing actual promotion?
How about group discounts,package deals to tour promoters, more contests/giveaways or as someone said before incentives for fete tickets,or maybe a discount on boots? I mean there are so many other ways to promote your band than spending money on limes (for free) and the party bus IMO.
First and foremost people want cheaper prices!!! Take it from there and run with it.
Saucy I do have to agree with you. The band leaders do have to drop their prices in entice customers. To me thay are not doing anything to promote there band. I will be coming to Trinidad for Carnival 2k9 but its very expensive. Some of us will not be making that journey. A friend of mine usually comes every year, will be getting laid off:Her job is going to India. To me, the band leaders is not looking at the global economy. People are loosing their jobs left and right. Please reduce price of the costumes why not make if affordable for some. Or are they too greedy, or are they just interested in making a profit. We already know that some of the costumes are produce overseas and the cost is very cheap. You know money is the root of all evil.
Sauce, the package plan angle with tour promotors should be something these bands should look at. How many newbies have no idea who they want to play with would "go with the flow" for whoever their tour operator put them with if they knew a set number of others would be on the tour that they could get to know. It's not easy to arrange a Carnival vacation if you don't know what you are doing. Some people will pay real money to have someone else set everything up for them. I know if I didn't have friends in Trinidad I would.
Well elsa they will not reduce cost because they are pricing like the two bands that are already sold out. That means that people have the money right, so why should their product be cheaper? I think that is their justification.
In all fairness what's a band to do at this point in time? Assuming oil prices were still @ $140 per bbl, the DOW was still @ 12,000+, no international credit crisis, money was still flowing and jobs were not in jeopardy. Would this still be an issue? Perhaps not. Considering the timing of band launches etc. pricing was set with the expectation that people would come and they would have the means to purchase their costumes.
Now that these bands have already set prices and the international financial community is falling apart, we see bands with tons of costumes left to sell and many others which may simply be forfeited. In some regards no different from the automakers and other consumer goods stores. This is an economic downs slide that most people did not anticipate.
In response to this crisis we see stores already offering deep discounts to make whatever marginal profits that can be salvaged. The mas bands need to take cue from this and do the same. It is too difficult to try to attract folks with gimmicks (no afterwork lime - I cyah come and doh skimp on the supplies come Monday and Tuesday). Too bad they've already made commitments to order "X" number of costumes. Short of being stuck with excess capacity, lower the price to attract new patrons and for those who already made their down payments - they will just have a lower remaining balance to pay off.
With all that said - it still doesn't address the underlying pricing issue. What I do understand is business is business and I understand the economics of it. But unexpected things happen and we all need to go into Plan B mode or at least start thinking about it.
Thanks goodness my plans are still in tack! See you Trinidad in about 89 days
It's not that hard to lower prices ppl. When I played in Trini Revellers, with Utopia Int. section in the DKREWE Section(the year b4 DKREWE broke off from Trini Revellers) They realised feedback wasn't so good for the costume it was $2200 (at that time ip n tribe costumes were like 2700/2800) and they lowered it to a flat $2000 about two weeks before carnival I think and received sooo much more feedback, they advertised on the radio and all! It's never too late. New bands need to realise that they are a new business they need to have their prices lower than the already established competitors to make an impact. Spice had ppl sold on their costume designs, what happened? Elements even had ppl hyped up at a point in time?! what happened?
Oil hit $49 a barrel and the TnT budget was based on a price of $70. By Carnival this recession will hit many in Trini and we will see how many will be paying off the balance for their costumes....
Saucy, just today I was checking out Carnivalburnout website, they have Carnival packages to suit your budget. They even had Kaotic Carnival band to play with, you can even order your choice of costumes, parties, places to stay, plane ticket ect. I wonder how many other bands have this to offer. I must say good part on Kaotic to link up with Trinidad Carnivalburnout for doing this.
I know that some bands will not reduce their prices for costumes, its still too early. Trust me about 2wks before Carnival I forsee some band will drop their prices. Only time will tell.
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