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Barudak posted:An extreme example is Hermes who may have the most devious method of extracting value from people and is like if a casino, used car dealership, and bribery had a legal business baby I would really, really like to hear more about this.
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Nov 8, 2018 21:25
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big dyke energy posted:I would really, really like to hear more about this. IIRC, you have to buy a certain amount of their poo poo to be eligible to possibly be allowed to purchase the poo poo you actually want.
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Nov 8, 2018 21:39
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Krispy Wafer posted:Suicide Squad was a bust only because of Marvel. In any other decade it would have been a huge blockbuster. Hell, even RDJ wasn't exactly a hot commodity at the time of Iron Man. I remember that there was a bit of an uproar because they let him out of prison early to work on it.
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Nov 8, 2018 21:44
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Alaois posted:over half the gross was from the foreign market and hollywood couldn't give a gently caress about the foreign market unless it's one of the special coveted foreign markets that they're supposed to care about because they get less returns from it Well, China is getting to be the main cash cow for Hollywood, to the point that they pander more towards them than the actual US market often.
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Nov 8, 2018 21:48
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Choco1980 posted:Well, China is getting to be the main cash cow for Hollywood, to the point that they pander more towards them than the actual US market often. Alaois posted:over half the gross was from the foreign market and hollywood couldn't give a gently caress about the foreign market unless it's one of the special coveted foreign markets that they're supposed to care about because they get less returns from it
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Nov 8, 2018 21:50
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Beachcomber posted:IIRC, you have to buy a certain amount of their poo poo to be eligible to possibly be allowed to purchase the poo poo you actually want. Its even more more insidious; To be offered to buy the poo poo you want you must build rapport with a specific rep by buying bizzare overpriced poo poo you dont want (example 800 dollar hermes brand rocking horse) until they like you enough to call you when they do get inventory you want, but the store nor reps get any control over inventory they sent so youre gambling on them even recieving the style of bag you want much less color, and from a corporate level there is a cap on how many of their bags youre allowed to buy in a year. In review, you must bribe a salesperson so that theyll call you for a high-pressure buy-it-now-or-miss-out opportunity on a thing you may not 100% want because nobody cares what you actually want and the thing you want may never be sent to the store you decided to build rapport at. This process can take weeks or months to go from "first time in a store" to "actually buying a bag" so Diehard Hermes shoppers recommend you take a vacation to paris and go to the flagship store and spend 5-7k over your short trip as that store has the most inventory so theyre more likely to call you back in a short window o buy more stuff. Ask me about a friend who had over 100k in non-bag product from hermes just so she could get access to their top tier bag, which itself retails around 50k Edit: Do you think you may have a counterfit Hermes? Well their process is you send it to their people who make them to take apart and confirm if it is. You do not get an assembled purse back, just confirmation if it was or wasnt an Hermes Barudak has a new favorite as of 21:53 on Nov 8, 2018 |
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Nov 8, 2018 21:50
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ToxicSlurpee posted:I forget which vodka company it was but they wanted more profit because they were, you know, a company. They tried making more but people only drink so much vodka. So they tripled the price and put it in a fancier bottle. People just assumed it was better. Not only did the profit per bottle go up but they sold more bottles. I love reading about wine tasting. One test in Proof: The Science of Booze had them take a panel of expert and trainee sommeliers and total amateurs. After making sure their sense of smell was ordinary with smell generators and identifying specific scents, they were required to: 1. Identify wines by their smell 2. Identify specific components in the wine by smell The expert sommeliers did very well on identifying wines and the trainees did fairly well (like a 1 point difference on a 1-10 scale), while the amateurs couldn't tell much more than "Yep, it's wine." But on identifying actual chemical compounds in the wine, the amateurs and experts did identically but the experts had a much more varied vocabulary for their descriptions. Other scientific tests found that humans can identify about 4 individual scents in any combination before it just becomes a gestalt, which is why you smell "gasoline" and not the combination of chemicals that makes up that smell. The determination they made during the study is that the expert sommeliers don't have a more sensitive palate or nose than regular people, but they have a ton of experience. When they smell or taste a wine, they have a huge mental filing cabinet that they can use to compare all the flavor and scent notes to identify it. And yes, terroir does influence the final flavor of the wine because of the environmental conditions and anything they absorb from the ground. But there's no way for even the best sommelier to do anything more than identify what they're experienced with. And obviously there's nothing that says the most expensive or rare wines are any good. In Godforsaken Grapes, Jason Wilson dedicates a ton of time to exploring Europe and South America and finding varieties so rare as to have only a single row in a vineyard remaining of them. But he has to admit that some of them taste kinda like chalky bong water, at the same time that many are far more interesting than the expensive Bordeaux houses.
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Nov 8, 2018 22:55
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Barudak posted:Its even more more insidious; Wait so if I walk into aHermes store do they just have like random poo poo that people wouldn't want and how do you find out what you do want if they don't have that stuff available? I know them as the ugly ties that cost too much money but I knew they also made other ugly clothes. This all sounds like a fantasy land scam and I'm intrigued.
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Nov 8, 2018 22:59
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jojoinnit posted:Wait so if I walk into aHermes store do they just have like random poo poo that people wouldn't want and how do you find out what you do want if they don't have that stuff available? The ties and clothes are part of the trash nobody wants; Hermes is a luxury bag company and everything else is varying degrees of chaff separating you from those bags. Hermes stores by design have a separate room just for the bags that is invitation only to enter. The shopping process is thus go into an hermes store for weeks or months buying ties, chess sets, wallets and other goods at 600%+ markup until youve made a sales person happy enough with you to invite you on a trip into the backroom where they pressure you to make your one allowed bag purchase for the year for something that may not be the bag you want and if you leave that room without buying expect to have to regrind your rep with the salesperson unless youre a truly massive spender. This call can happen at any time, even when the store is theoretically closed, so you have to be able to drop everything to buy it. If youre doing the math you may realize this system allows them to effectively charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for a purse already priced at 50,000 dollars while spreading the cost out over months keeping their cash flow coming while their customers fight with each other to spend more money than the others to get better access to random loot drops. Barudak has a new favorite as of 23:13 on Nov 8, 2018 |
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Nov 8, 2018 23:11
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And keep in mind that Victoria Beckham owns over 100 Hermes bags. Therefore, she will be first under the guillotine.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:16
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God my brain can not get around some parts of capitalism. That's loving insane. I can understand a company having a completely bonkers business plan like that, I can not FATHOM how the people who buy this don't just...move on to other luxury brands that don't make you buy poo poo you don't want to get things you do want (maybe, if you're lucky). I guess it's just a sunk-cost thing? More money than sense? Goddamn.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:21
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The answer is all of the above.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:23
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big dyke energy posted:God my brain can not get around some parts of capitalism. That's loving insane. Rich people usually get whatever they want. Hermes reintroduced competition into the mix, so now the rich person's lizard brain just HAS to loving have that poo poo.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:24
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Atmus posted:Rich people usually get whatever they want. Hermes reintroduced competition into the mix, so now the rich person's lizard brain just HAS to loving have that poo poo. Exaclty this. Want a bag from Luis Vuitton? Show the money and its yours. Want a bag from Hermes? Show me your dedication and maybe you can have it. If another rich person sees you've got a Birkin bag they know immediately you have the actual insane gumption to buy one, unlike those idiots with <spits> Channel trash. By the by, being a salesperson at Hermes is a good rear end job if you can get it because all that garbage tat theyre buying is on commission.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:29
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That makes a lot of sense, actually. It's still loving insane. And also it's fine to trick rich people out of their money. But goddamn.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:33
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This Heremes bag poo poo sounds like it was lifted from the plot of a William Gibson "Blue Ant Trilogy" novel.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:39
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As with a lot of things another answer is "because racism." I figure this is part of this one as the salesman can just kind of go "hmmm yes, I'd loooooove to sell you a bag but just aren't the right kind of person for such and excluuuuuuusive item." I forget which company it was but rich white women were getting cranky that those people started being seen with the same bags as them. The company responded by dramatically restricting supply to the point where a waiting list had to be created. It just so happened that those people very mysteriously would have to endure absurdly long waits or would be told things like "hmm, well we can maaaaaybe fit you in in a year but don't count on it." I have no idea if that was Hermes or not but I read it somewhere. It might have been or maybe it was some other kind of hand bag more expensive than a house.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:51
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Fleecing and humiliating rich people, you know what, I'm okay with it. You do you, Hermes.
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Nov 8, 2018 23:59
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I don't get why every other company hasn't jumped on board yet. And do they really make chess sets?
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Nov 9, 2018 00:00
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jojoinnit posted:I don't get why every other company hasn't jumped on board yet. And do they really make chess sets? It takes an incredible brand value to get there, and can only work for goods that can sell extremely limited quantities at absurd markup. Luxury car manufacturers actually do this; theyll make a run of a car of only 50-100 and offer it exclusively to the highest purchasers. There are dozens of one-off ferrari and porsches that you had to be on waiting lists to buy the car that ultimately just sit in some obscure russian oligarchs fifth garage. Hermes also is fully aware of their brand proposition and has referred to themselves as "allowing customers to scratch their itch." The chess set is $2,300 but there are other games to choose from as well if youre not into chess
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Nov 9, 2018 02:18
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Barudak posted:The ties and clothes are part of the trash nobody wants; Hermes is a luxury bag company and everything else is varying degrees of chaff separating you from those bags. Hermes stores by design have a separate room just for the bags that is invitation only to enter. 
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Nov 9, 2018 02:26
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That Hermes stuff is absolutely nuts. I'm... I'm flabbergasted by that. Going back to wines: can't place the source, but I read an article that cited a a study that if a wine has an animal logo on the label, it sells way better, especially to middle class women. Kinda like how DC comics figured out "if we put gorillas on the covers, issues will sell well" (talk about your not necessarily dumb, but weird, marketing moves, that influenced an entire industry) I'm gonna try this out with my hot sauce brands, will report back. Hopefully a Good Marketing Move!
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Nov 9, 2018 02:54
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You're gonna put a gorilla on the bottle?
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Nov 9, 2018 03:06
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Barudak posted:It takes an incredible brand value to get there, and can only work for goods that can sell extremely limited quantities at absurd markup. Luxury car manufacturers actually do this; theyll make a run of a car of only 50-100 and offer it exclusively to the highest purchasers. There are dozens of one-off ferrari and porsches that you had to be on waiting lists to buy the car that ultimately just sit in some obscure russian oligarchs fifth garage. There's another chess set that's over $8K and a $40K Mah Jongg set. Just...what? Buying that stuff just to get access to obscenely expensive bags? Ugh. Those chess sets aren't even that nice. Just expensive materials and polished a lot.
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Nov 9, 2018 03:14
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I'm not gonna lie, on the rare occasions I specifically go hot sauce shopping, I would absolutely buy one with a gorilla on the bottle. I bought a bottle of Blair's once (which is in the category of very hot, but tastes like garbage) because it came with a cool skull keychain.
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Nov 9, 2018 03:19
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JacquelineDempsey posted:Going back to wines: can't place the source, but I read an article that cited a a study that if a wine has an animal logo on the label, it sells way better, especially to middle class women. Kinda like how DC comics figured out "if we put gorillas on the covers, issues will sell well" (talk about your not necessarily dumb, but weird, marketing moves, that influenced an entire industry) Is this why DC has two separate talking gorilla villains?
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Nov 9, 2018 03:22
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Waffleman_ posted:Is this why DC has two separate talking gorilla villains? Are you counting Giganta.
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Nov 9, 2018 03:26
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Three.
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Nov 9, 2018 03:40
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Choco1980 posted:Well, China is getting to be the main cash cow for Hollywood, to the point that they pander more towards them than the actual US market often. Suicide Squad was not released in China, by the way. It and Deadpool were pretty much used as examples of how your movies can make a lot of money without that market. Suicide Squad being successful also really affected DC's movie plans. They have more spinoffs featuring Harley Quinn and Joker planned than movies featuring Batman and Superman. And with the movie Bird of Prey, they even made Margot Robbie a producer. Birds of Prey is also the direct effect of both SS and Wonder Woman being their biggest hits, because it's both a SS spinoff and a female-centric superhero movie with a woman directing. And despite James Gunn being now famous for space movies and a guy who worked with Zack Snyder, they hiring him for Suicide Squad 2 instead of a Green Lantern or Superman movie (but he also made Super so he's a good fit for Suicide Squad).
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Nov 9, 2018 03:57
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Volcott posted:Are you counting Giganta. Giganta is the woman that embiggens herself, not a gorilla. But yes, I'm sure the gorilla game for DC is exactly why Grodd and Monsieur Mallah both exist. There's good guy apes in the DCU as well. Like Congorilla (formerly Congo Bill)
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Nov 9, 2018 05:04
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Giganta was a gorilla at one point though.
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Nov 9, 2018 05:09
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Barudak posted:The chess set is $2,300 but there are other games to choose from as well if youre not into chess That chess set would be O.K. for a student project but it’s uninspired for a designer item.
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Nov 9, 2018 05:43
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Holy poo poo, there’s a tool kit for $960 US, that’s just a wrench.
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Nov 9, 2018 06:25
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Platystemon posted:That chess set would be O.K. for a student project but it’s uninspired for a designer item. It's the most boring Chess set in the universe. It's board is totally uniform, I saw no squares, just grey triangles. I have a nice chess set that I never get to use, that's a glass one (the colours are clear glass and smokey white glass) that my parents got me for christmas years ago. It's really nice looking. Would'nt be surprised if the $800 rocking horse was also totally off model and poorly built seeing that lovely chess set.
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Nov 9, 2018 06:26
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Waffleman_ posted:Giganta was a gorilla at one point though. A mad scientist mutated a gorilla into Giganta's current appearance. She got the size changing later.
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Nov 9, 2018 06:51
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BioEnchanted posted:It's the most boring Chess set in the universe. It's board is totally uniform, I saw no squares, just grey triangles. I have a nice chess set that I never get to use, that's a glass one (the colours are clear glass and smokey white glass) that my parents got me for christmas years ago. It's really nice looking. Would'nt be surprised if the $800 rocking horse was also totally off model and poorly built seeing that lovely chess set. I'd like to think there's a committee in an office somewhere just giggling madly wondering how far they can push this. Maybe they could sell scrap fabric from making the purses. But not usable, encased in a laminate block.
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Nov 9, 2018 06:55
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I'd love for someone to meet one of those celebs who isn't in on the whole thing to make it clear that their stuff doesn't even look that expensive. Like someone asks after one of Beckham's bags, and asks if it was Marks and Spencer because it looks like one. They are spending money on items that simply don't work as status symbols to most people. People see jewel encrusted garbage, that looks expensive. At least one of those one-off ferraris looks expensive too. These things don't even do that job properly.
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Nov 9, 2018 07:01
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Inconspicuous wealth is waaayyyy better than the tasteless conspicuous kind. The only people who you care know what you have, are the people who know what you have.
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Nov 9, 2018 07:18
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The MSJ posted:Suicide Squad was not released in China, by the way. It and Deadpool were pretty much used as examples of how your movies can make a lot of money without that market. What movies work and don’t work in China is a gamble. Star Wars movies do not do well, but stuff like Pacific Rim that underperform in the States does gangbusters over there. Also every tent pole movie now has an Asian character to try and appeal to foreign markets. So I guess that helps diversity.
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Nov 9, 2018 07:33
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Sometimes they just put poo poo into movies that pander to the local audiences that doesn't get shown in the US. Iron Man 3 had a bit at the end where his heart was operated on by a Chinese surgeon to remove the shrapnel that had been threatening him since the first movie. The surgeon put accupuncture needles in him first just so they could go "See! See! Look how Chinese this scene is! Chinese as gently caress!"
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Nov 9, 2018 08:19
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