Update 6-24-9

Just a quickie this time. We have 1/2 page ads hitting nationally in Guitar World ( and aforementioned videos) and Music Trade (thanks Lisa!, and thanks to West Word Vision for their pro bono effort in creating a top flight display ad...) as well as a full page ad in Music Connection. On the latter, we are considered 'family' thanks to Al and Kylie Fischer. Kylie's father is buds with Michael Dolan who runs the mag. Needless to say, this is HUGE; furthermore, I've been in close contact with Bill McBee, Senior Account Manager thereof. I sent him a Jam Kat for review last week, and he loves it. How cool is that? He is also very enthused, is extremely well connected and hopes to attend NAMM to introduce is to key players (literal and figurative). He wants to help. Music Connection is an insiders mag for artists, producers, studios, agents, etc.- the 'Bible' of the industry. They are offering a free 3 month subscription for newbees http://musicconnection.com/store/subscriptions/
Al is our Technical Media Director and is in our NAMM posse. Thanks to the Fischer's for everything!
We are shooting parts next week. Robin (R5) and I have become quite adept with tooling design and fabrication, and the entire process is now 'in-house'. It's been a steep learning curve and months without a day off but it is worth it (thanks Robin!).

Our Shares offering withdrawel is expected to coincide with our NAMM departure, July 16.

Short and sweet, thanks to everyone for everything- we will rock the house with our unique product, a positive revolution!

Insert [Our] Ad Here

We have a new Jam Kat commercial/video that will be distributed with Guitar World Magazine's NAMM issue next month, and it is being featured on various magazine websites. Thanks to John, Kevin and Pat for working so hard on this. As always, thanks to Jeff for rocking out with our Jam Kat in the video.

Adventures on Facebook

Just a quick heads-up to all of you on the ever-reaching Facebook network that we now have a Pick-Smith, Inc. group that we'll also be updating regularly with videos, pictures and events. This way you can not only check our website and our blog, but you can have Jam Kat updates show up on your news feed as well :)

Facebook has surpassed MySpace in not only active members but legitimate network and advertising capabilities. It is a media hothouse for sharing, and though it does have its creepy 'stalker' attributes, we could think of no better way to reach the world. It has been an idea from the beginning to advertise and promote the Jam Kat here.

We invite you and anyone you'd like to invite to join our Pick-Smith family. Thanks to Al for setting the group up. If you have problems finding us on FB, please let myself or Pat know. We're up to 50 members, let's keep it growing! Thanks and have a rocking day!

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Booth #1537

Hey y'all, just a quick update to let you know how excited we are because we got our NAMM certificate in the mail today and our booth # for the summer show! What a trip, let me say, to have all this coming together. We're putting together our NAMM team and finalizing all the details to get Pick-Smith rocking out in Nashville this July. I can't even describe how excited I was today when I found our booth on the interactive floor plan. Surreal.

Tim at Poremba Productions is still working hard on our booth display, make sure to check out the fly-by video below to experience our booth in it's thirty seconds of glory.

If you'd like more information about our appearance at the summer show, feel free to e-mail us anytime. We're banking on Jeff Poremba, the same fine lad who did our tutorial videos/face of Pick-Smith, to give a few demonstrations at the show. Displaying the awesome functionality of the Jam Kat and his mad guitar skills.

Thanks for everyone's help/support/love in this venture. We have big dreams and you're helping to make them happen!

Peace out for now ;)

Santana at the Hard Rock

Whew!

No, we were not able to meet with don Carlos; however, I did talk to Ron the sound guy, exchange messages w/ Skip the tour manager (busy guy) and deliver the new FLiP! for Santana. The show was phenomenal, and will run for two years. It is THE show in Vegas right now, and overall it was worth the drive home after the concert to get a little further in the door (thanks Janelle!). An interesting dynamic is that don Carlos is using the Vegas platform as a way to reach the widest audience possible- delivering fabulous music as well as a powerful spiritual message. Lisa and I are both students of an obscure text that he quoted, as well as the Toltec tradition. If we can talk with don Carlos I am certain we will connect...

Lisa was able to enlist the help of West Word Vision to help with our Tuesday ad deadline for Guitar World, which is attached herein (thanks Lisa and Paula Schaper, WWV!) Pick-Smith intends to use WWV for all it's campaign needs once we are in the black.

The team is working hard to prepare for our NAMM debut, and the only real issue that we have is the additional cost of funding the advertising campaign and the NAMM show prior to production revenue. Greg Ray and Al Fischer have volunteered to generate an investor specific video and presentation to that end. In Greg's words, "it's time to pony up". Raising capital is not my strength, and I appreciate their enthusiasm and support tremendously (thanks boys!).

Gotta run, more to follow. Pura Vida!

Memorial Day Weekend at KJD

Greetings from the Pick-Smith helm!
There are several developments that bear mentioning, as well as a resulting tack in way of launch strategy.
I was in Tucson last weekend for a new build and ad copy intensive with Lisa and John Krikawa. The latest FLiP! design features torsion springs in the ring instead of leaf springs, and we are thrilled with the improved functionality and ease of assembly. Lisa added six black diamonds for kicks. The picture does not do it justice! The FLiP! 'development' is complete. Woot woot!
In our spare time Lisa worked on the ad copy proof, John worked on a 'true' Jam Kat model/rendering and I worked on a tooling modification (I'll return to that). Lisa has since led our campaign, contacting and contracting the prominent magazines and insuring our placement for the NAMM issues. Concurrent with our 1/2 page ads, Guitar World and Music Trade will include a full media product launch program including product spotlights, reviews, etc. Guitar World alone reaches one million guitarists per month, more than all other mags combined, and they guarantee that Pick-Smith and Jam Kat will be household names in the industry by Labor Day (thank you Lisa and John, muah!).
Back at the ranch, we are sitting on first-run quantities of package inserts, Jam Kat stickers and custom picks; unfortunately, we discovered a flaw in the original harness tool design that set us back several weeks (thanks to Robin Blench of R-5 for his unwavering perseverance and fabulous attitude in the face of such a challenging project!).
Furthermore, our distribution guru Douglas Mason has infiltrated the retail/distributor dynamic in our industry and discovered that we are facing a catch-22 scenario... the independent resellers rely on the payment programs offered by the distributors, and the distributors only carry items that are in demand. Similarly, Guitar Center responds to public demand (thanks Doug!).
To that end, our strategy of product placement and short-sales to fund ad copy and the NAMM show requires re-tooling as well. Our tooling delays and marketing head-ways coincide conspicuously with the upcoming NAMM show (Nashville, July 17-19) and the pending launch of our e-commerce website (thanks Tasja, you rock!). We have an 800 number (1-888-4 Jam Kat) and all indicators point to Pick-Smith hitting the music industry like a meteor strike. Brilliant? Yeah, well...
Another HUGE development is in the ongoing effort to land prominent endorsements. Our 'inside networker' Janelle Curry has developed a working relationship with Carlos Santana's tour manager Skip. Perhaps you saw Carlos holding his pick between his first and second fingers while he played finger-style on American Idol? No word as yet, but Carlos is playing in Las Vegas and has both a metal FLiP! and production packaged Jam Kat to ponder.
Furthermore, Skip is of the opinion that we should be getting our product in the hands of the guitar techs of the most prominent and influential guitarists in the world. He happens to know some of them, including Edge of U2 and John Mayer. Yup, John Mayer (thanks Janelle!). We also have a separate thread to Jeff Beck. If you've seen Jeff play, you know he is a perfect candidate for our product...
So much for brevity. I really need to write shorter blogs more often.
As far as finances, thanks to everyone!!! We've come a long way in a short time, at a fraction of the cost of typical start-ups, funded by the Hearth Program and enthusiastic, talented team-members. We are now in a leveraged position to aquire alternative funding to cover the marketing and NAMM programs we planned on bankrolling with revenue. It is what it is, all good, yadayada... The big picture looks brighter than ever, and we will look back fondly on this time- the vitality, the enthusiasm, the team soul, and the balls it took to pull this off.
Pura Vida!

We Be Nammin'

Congratulations to us as we are now officially members of NAMM! They're slogan is 'believe in music' and we are definitely believers here at Pick-Smith, Inc. We are also excited to announce our attendance at the Summer Namm Show in Nashville, TN this July. It's a wonderful networking and promotion opportunity for us, especially as we begin production of the Jam Kat.

We are lucky to have known Tim at Poremba Productions for a long time, and he's been working on the layout/graphics of our 6'x8' booth for the summer show. Doesn't sound like much space? Well we're going to be packing a lot of 'awesome' in there, don't you worry.

If you're going to be attending the show as well, look for something along the lines of this in the Guitar Accessories section and make sure to stop by and say hello. We promise we don't scratch.

Also along the marketing front Lisa has also been working hard on AD copy for Guitar World, Guitar Player and Bass Player magazines. We'd like to roll those out as soon as possible and who knows maybe we'll even get a product launch feature. You never know what the universe will throw at you.

More posts soon to come with updates about the tooling, the FLiP! and some exciting endorsement possibilities. Stay tuned :)