Howard Beckerman - "Animation Sale" - "Animation Spot" - Back Stage; New York Vol. 23, Iss. 41, (Oct 8, 1982): 26.

 Animation Sale  

By Howard Beckerman

With the economy the way it is, I thought I'd run a sale on animation this week. It seemed like a good idea after I noticed all of the marked down goods in store ads and rebates by manufacturers that are popping up in local newspapers. Flipping through the pages of a daily gazette suggested several ways for offering an animation sale, so I thought that if any other studio operators were looking for payments, or even no payments, I could offer some advice.  

The first thing is to mark everything down. Go to the local stationery store and get a batch of red tags, with strings attached, and tie them to drawings which you can hang in your window. It should look something like this: 

Notice that the character with the ears costs more than anything else, this is to cover royalty payments to the original creator. Another gimmick that is frequently used is the offer of a bonus. So on a large sheet of paper, say about a 16 field, write the following: "With every purchase you get a set of numbers so that you can make your own Academy Leader."  

Another device that is employed is the rebate. The customer buys something and then returns a form to the company which then rebates a set amount of money. The only reason they don't just mark down the item in the first place is they expect several people to lose the form, and then the rebate never happens. So,  

Now all of these machinations may seem strange at first, but remember using such ploys have been part and parcel of business for thousands of years. Animation should be considered no different than any other form of production, manufacturing or selling. How you exploit these sales methods is also very important. 

For instance, many companies feel that sales depend on the romantic association between the product and where it is made. Once upon a time when products came from Japan they were shoddy and cheap. Today that image has changed totally and almost everything worthwhile appears to have originated in the country whose main export is no longer paper parasols. In fact it has become American to proudly state that your product was made in Japan.  

So for the producer who wishes to attract business by extolling his product's place of origin, stickers should be ordered that say, "Made On 45th Street, N.Y. USA." California animation studios have an ever broader range of exotic and romantic locales to turn to, such as Australia, Taiwan, Korea and other wondrous ports of call that now export animation as they once proffered spices.  

Many businesses take into consideration the fact that their competition may. be enticing prospective clients with gifts, lunches, tickets to the theatre or meetings in pleasant surroundings. The clever animation producer has many choices at his/her disposal. If one takes into account the knowledge that the chief competitor of the cartoon medium is live action, a good idea would be to invest in some second hand cameras, tripod and lights. Set these up in an adjoining room and tell the clients that love live action that while you and your people are making their animated film, they can play to their hearts content in the other room with all the 'live' paraphernalia.  

For the clients that had their hearts set on computer animation but had to turn to traditional techniques and are still uneasy about that decision, there is the perfect solution. Rent a few electronic games, hand them a bag of quarters and while they are engrossed in the zap and glare of Pac Man you can animate away to your hearts content.  

I also have some consolation for producers and services who have invested a great deal of capital in electronic imaging and videotaping equipment. Even if new technology usurps your current machinery, have no fear, the price of new equipment will remain about the same. I say this, because I've noticed that since 1950, when a loaf of bread cost about 22 cents, a black and white television set cost about $200. Today a loaf of bread costs 90 cents and you can buy a color television set for about the same price as a 1950's black and white version.  

One last thing. This you will have to figure out for yourself. After you've told your happy client that lines cost 5 cents and circles a half a dollar, how will you get him to understand that the commercial will still cost $35,000 dollars? You will have to explain the drawings are the easy part, it's the overhead that has no money back guarantee.