talkmagic.co.uk

Hey,

What do you think makes a good magic trick advert? (particularly, adverts in the video form I'm talking about here).

Also, what don't you like about magic adverts?

Thanks,

Steven

P.S The reason I ask is because I do A-level Media Studies and I have to research adverts. I thought it would be interesting If I researched some magic adverts to compare them to regular ads and see what key differences their are.

What makes a good advert for me - or at least one that makes me pay attention and consider whether or not I'd use the trick...

In print:

One which - very early on - tells you what the trick is. Is it a card location? A cap in bottle? A mindreading effect?

Are you buying a prop, a gimmick, or a detailed gimmickless method?

If a close-up item, is there an instant (or invisible) reset for strolling performance?

If it's angle-proof, I'd like to know that too (I wouldn't expect anyone to admit it if it wasn't - that's what reviews are for (hopefully)).

HOW MUCH??

In video trailers

I want to see the effect or routine from start to finish, without being 'edited for time' (read: having all the dirty work removed in the edit).

Moreover, I want to see what the effect is - and not be inundated with shots of screaming spectators.

Pete

All that, plus some truth. There's a tendency towards hyperbole in magic advertising. Pressing home the impact the effect could have in the right hands is one thing, but downright lying about the thing you're buying (the cause) is another.

Pretty much everything PC Wells listed. I want to know what it is, what it does, whether it's something I already know/have access to, or whether Brad Christian has touched it with a ten foot pole.

A bit of honesty would be appreciated. I know there is only so much you can give away in a magic trick ad, but there is a lot of stuff out there where the ad blurb comes across as a tad suspect. And I have seen some ads that contain blatant lies. I also want to know exactly what is included in the package and if I need to spend more money on extras in order to use it. Also, how practical is it for use in the real world? No Bullsh*t, please; just tell it like it is and let potential customers make up their own mind. The worst thing is having spent a lot of money on a prop/effect/whatever and then having that feeling that you've been misled or, worse, conned.

One more thing. Dispense with the quotes from famous magicians and mentalists; frankly, I don't really care if Max Maven thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread. That doesn't help me decide if this effect is worth buying. Give me some facts and try not to lie about it!

Plus, everything that pcwells says.

It might be valuable, if it's possible to do this without naming names, of describing how, in the past, we've been burned.

My main two involved buying something that relied on a technique that was so obvious, I guessed and dismissed it watching the demonstration video and assumed (at the price) that it would be something else;

and seeing something that claimed not to work via an instant stooge, but was clear to anyone who read the manuscript involved just that. Everyone except the author who had somehow fooled himself into thinking that he'd created a surreal dual reality moment.

As for the quotes from other mentalists, I don't mind them so much. Often they are actually warnings about shoddy products being put out by people who don't know any better. I once saw a manuscript go out with a quote that read "This is dangerous stuff". Dangerous to the author, maybe!

The first thing to ensure is that you've got a good trick to advertise in the first place.

If you don't and what you have is weak - then you'll find it hard not to lie about it.

In my early days I often used to see an amazing video and click on the "Buy Now" link, only to receive in the post a length of IT and piece of BluTac.

I think it's known as the "Jiffy Bag Moment".

Good advertising is good advertizing and it really doesn't matter what the product is.

Go look at the advertising for the Turantula. I don't know of any magic shop that could keep the thing in stock. That is good advertizing.

Jim Paces The Web was another good example. WTF was amazing blew through many of those without ever having to demonstrate in the shop.

Tenyo is a great at packaging. Didn't matter what the effect was the packaging and the adds in the magic magazines did the selling.

Something that always causes me great annoyance is a list of ways the trick is not achieved, ie. 'No threads, no magnets, no wax, no rough and smooth, no forces, no duplicates, no fishing, no hunting, no camping...'

These are all perfectly acceptable and workable ways of achieving an effect (especially camping) and if you take them away it often means the trick has a rather impractical method. People end up buying just to see how the effect works and more often than not being quite disappointed.

bronz wrote:Something that always causes me great annoyance is a list of ways the trick is not achieved, ie. 'No threads, no magnets, no wax, no rough and smooth, no forces, no duplicates, no fishing, no hunting, no camping...'

Ah! So it's all done with ball games!

The one in particular that always puzzled me is the "no rough and smooth" - something that isn't all that far in the public domain, so why worry about it?

Mr_Grue wrote:

bronz wrote:Something that always causes me great annoyance is a list of ways the trick is not achieved, ie. 'No threads, no magnets, no wax, no rough and smooth, no forces, no duplicates, no fishing, no hunting, no camping...'

Ah! So it's all done with ball games!

The one in particular that always puzzled me is the "no rough and smooth" - something that isn't all that far in the public domain, so why worry about it?

Brings up an excellent point. The bulk of the magic buying public are hobbiests and arm chair magicians, (not mutually exclusive) and don't get me wrong absolutly nothing wrong with that. The majority of magic creators and sellers are well aware of the fact that most of the product is going it be sold to magicians who's only real audiences are for the most part (in no particular order):

Probably never going to actually perform
Only going to perform in front of family and friends
Only going to perform for other magicians

They also know that magicians tend to purchase method rather then effect.

For example we all or should all have a wonderful way to vanish a coin. And that is usually a retention vanish. The vanish is the effect. We have it! Its done! End of story...but it isn't, is it? We purchase the Raven, The Bat the gecko. All of which are method we can't help ourselves we are addicted. We hate the magic dealers the advertizers those overpricing mean ole' b******s. But we need them, we love them, heck we cannot exist without them. We are addicts. We show our significant other that vanishing coin a thousand times. Eventually the blind squirrel finds its nut, and therefore we need new method. They figured out we force the card, they caught on to the rough and smooth. Arggh we need something new! There is no way you can tell how an effect is done in the advertizment because the second you know how you won't, the majority won't purchase the effect. In one form or another you have the effect a thousand times over. The only thing left is to tell you how its not done.

I cannot just advertize another coin in bottle because you all know it already. So I have to go out of my way to prove you don't know how its done or you simply won't buy it again.

Think about it this way. To magic dealers you are the laymen. Once the laymen figures out the effect they are not interested any longer. Same for the hobbiest and arm chair magician. Collectors are a different animal.

The average life time of a profitable customer for a magic dealer is about 3 yrs. After which the customer:

has it figured out an doesn't buy that much anymore.
Has turned semi pro and therefore has an act and doesn't vary from it so what they buy is to replace what they have lost or broken etc.
Has figured it out and has gotten out of magic
Become a collecter and buys very specific type effects for whatever reason.

I could go on but I'm sure you have all stopped reading long ago.