Ready to Cruise Forest Lane!

From 1968-1989 cruising Forest Lane was the right of passage for every Dallas teen.

“Dear Parents Of Dallas: Your Teenagers Are Out Hot-Rodding, Drinking Beer, And Flirting On Forest Lane Every Friday Night!” screamed the Texas Monthly headline, followed by the telling first line “Just like you used to”  For one night June 4th 2011 we’re stepping back on time to get together on Forest Lane, hang out, swap stories and enjoy tunes from back in the day.

Brought to you by the 7Deadly Group, the brains behind the annual Rockers vs. Mods event in Dallas. Rockers vs Mods has grown exponentially each year with 2011’s 5th Annual boasting 400+ bikes, 20 sponsors and too many spectators to count. This event sprung out of a sincere appreciation for those days cruising on Forest Lane and interest has far surpassed anything we could have imagined. With a solid 21 year run of North Dallas folks running wild on Forest Lane, there is an enormous group of people who want to relive those great memories.

Get your cars tuned up and your girls decked out! RSVP on our facebook invite so we can see who's coming!

7Deadly Group: Superbowl Fixer For Hire

February 6, 2011 Superbowl XVL is coming to North Texas.

7 Deadly Group is a marketing firm specializing in Adult Club Marketing, Event Marketing, Spirits, Gaming & Tobacco. As a result of our specialization; we know the underbelly of Dallas/Fort Worth better than anyone in around; we are professional; we have office space and are available to assistance in the following capacities:

• Adult Club Fixer - if VIP's are in town and looking to go to an topless club we're the go to for the discreet access at the best places in Dallas and Fort Worth. We do not have any allegiance to any clubs in town so 7Deadly Group will make every effort to cut the best deal at the best places and meet any requirements for you and your guests.
  
  
• Event Assistance - if you have an event in town and need:
  – creative help (last minute banners, flyers or ads)
  – select event attendees (beautiful women)
  – street teams
  – bands
  
  
We have 16 years of experience in marketing. Our event marketing experience includes live venue promotion to art gallery openings to motorcycle rallies and everything in between. Check out our portfolio and contact us if you need some locals helping with VIP arrangements or with your Superbowl XVL event.

Mark Roberts
vice president
mark@7deadlygroup.com
www.7deadlygroup.com
ph: 214.699.1545
fx: 214.889.3100

Vice Squad Agency is Now 7Deadly Group

Dallas, Texas (January 5, 2011) – Canadian-based VICE Magazine, which regards itself as the DIY/Punk Rock antithesis to the traditional news outlets contacted us several weeks ago about our use of the Vice Squad Agency name. To be accurate, this DIY/Punk Rock organization sicced trademark attorneys on the Vice Squad Agency claiming trademark infringement and dilution of their brand. The trademarks consist of only the word VICE and do not include “Squad”. One trademark is in the area of advertising, marketing, publicity & promotion, but has more to do with being a record label and does not cover our area of specialization (Gaming, Alchohol, Tobacco & Adult Products).

Most recently VICE cut a deal with MTV to air VICE Guide To Everything which is no doubt the impetus for the lawyers’ letters. Attorneys we consulted on our behalf claimed we had a solid legal claim to our name if we wanted to go to court. Agency management gave the matter a lot of serious thought and decided the money would be better spent on other frivolities–like making payroll and rent.

Vice President and New Business Director David Marett states: “The agency has a lot of projects in the works right now and we simply don’t have time to screw with posers and lawsuits. We specialize in vice-related products and services and the name 7Deadly Group accurately conveys and defines our position in the market."

According to Vice President and Chief Creative Director, Mark Roberts “Vice Magazine’s lawyers ‘strongly suggested’ we get legal representation but my theory is it takes two to fuck or fight. We gave it serious thought and decided to leave them with their hollow victory – I mean trademark attorneys aren’t very punk rock. My only regret is that ‘vice’ is a salaciously wonderful word and I have come to feel they do not deserve it’s sole possession – but I guess might makes right."

We are still the first (and only)!
Whether we are Vice Squad Agency or 7Deadly Group we are the only agency specializing in Gaming, Alcohol, Tobacco & Adult Products. This agency was the first to recognize vice as a genre of advertising and are continually striving improve our ability to deliver ingenious creative solutions to these types of businesses.

Here are some facts:
Gambling expenditures in the United States remain the highest in the world, with leisure dollars fueling a $60-billion industry.

The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) claims U.S. revenue to spirits makers reached $18.7 billion in 2009.

7.4 billion gallons of beer were consumed in the U.S. in 2005.

The sex-toy market brings in between $8 billion and $12 billion each year in the U.S.

Tattooing in the U.S. is an estimated $2.3 billion industry.

Adult films are estimated to be generating $750 million to $1 billion per year in revenue.

The future:
The 7Deadly Group, formerly Vice Squad Agency is pitching yet-to-be-announced national accounts, doing project work for some local businesses (Rahr Brewing & Zorlac Skateboards) and we are making plans to open a full-service office in New York and a satellite office in Las Vegas in 2011.

The Ritual of Drinking

I’ve worked on marketing everything from premixed Bourbon & Coke to Bud Light Lime and "Chelada" (Michelada) to Kahlua Mudslide Mix. They were all are an attempt to make drinking "more convenient" and they all failed miserably. Their downfall, in my professional opinion, is the removal of the process of drinking makes it less ritually satisfying.

Tequila Shots: Lick the salt, slam the tequila and bite the lime.

Even in my youth there were guidelines on how to behave at a keg party. You immediately found the guy with the cup and he sized you up and decided whether or not to charge you; losing your cup revoked your right to drink for the evening; at the keg it was customary to fill everyone's cup around you; lift the keg every so often and give a report on the "float" ETA and be sure to give the keg a few pumps before you move on.

I would say that this ritual is every bit as structured as drinking Sake in Japan or the arcane rituals surrounding Absinthe and I never questioned or dared break this tradition.

Mexican Beer: Stuff the lime down the Corona Bottle. Cover the end with your thumb, slowly invert the bottle upside down and back upright. Slowly uncover with your thumb and drink.

It occurred to me to write this post after drinking Scotch out of a coffee cup. Not a big deal, I was at work we didn't have much in the way of glassware. It's bizarre that I can slug down beer in front of my computer and not give it a second thought, but Scotch felt wrong.

Scotch: Three fingers in a glass with one finger of Scottish mineral water.

Then I realized all the rituals surrounding drinking that I participate in unconsciously. I'll happily wait ten minutes for a properly poured Guinness. Before I do a shot with friends I clack the glass on the bar every single time. At wine tastings, I raise the glass look at the color and legs with each new offering.

Red Wine: Observe the color, Sniff, Aerate, Taste and Savor the finish.

This brought me back to Bud Light Lime and "Chiladas". The removal of the ritual of drinking beer and lime or making a good Michelada ruins the experience. And people who market spirits should look at ways to infuse, embrace or even create rituals surrounding their products.

One good example of creating a ritual is Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. As silly as it seems, the Captain Morgan pose is a prime example of how a small ritual can increase market share and create a story for people to tell.

I would be interested in your thoughts on my hair-brained theory.

Real World Band Promotion

This isn't a glamorous post, but it is some real world advice on how to get your band or the band you are promoting the best exposure possible. This might be more technical than you want to wade through, but just a skim through will give you some good pointers.

I have produced marketing materials on the venue-side of show promotion in Dallas off and on for over 12 years. This includes small venues like Trees and Gypsy Tea Room to larger independents the likes of The Bronco Bowl and The Longhorn Ballroom up to large corporate venues such as Nokia Theater, House of Blues Houston & Dallas, Superpages.com Center and the New Cowboys Stadium. I have seen band art show up in a word document all the way to 20 different sizes for 3oh3! (which were all pretty much unusable).

The key to getting your show promoted properly is to make it easy for the venues. If your art sucks and is difficult to handle, odds our you will get minimal exposure and have a sea of empty seats instead of adoring fans.

So here are some guidelines from an expert.

#1 Is your band logo legible. Maybe your buddy designed some hand drawn artwork that looks awesome on a poster, but 3/8" on a line listing it will look like someone squashed a bug on the page.

Nope


Yep


#2 Keep the venue's honest. Many less-than-honest venues will have advertising in the agreement, have artwork created (by yours truly) with no intention of ever actually running it. To avoid this:

• Tell the marketing people you want to see the Insertion Order. This is A document that specifies the dates and scope of a media buy. Used in print, online, and broadcast media.
  
  
• Most alternative press publication have an online ad index which allows you to check up on them. (example: http://www.dallasobserver.com/adIndex/category/entertainment-37)

#3 Squeaky wheel get's the marketing grease. More times than I can count, I have had the venue marketing person go "Hey we need to crank out some 4ups or flyers because this and such band keeps bitching". The reasons are varied, but mostly the small and large venues are up the their asses trying to get everything done or they just don't think of it. The larger venues all have street teams in place so they are a prime target for a phone call asking what they are doing to promote your upcoming shows.

#4 Get your artwork to them early. This seems obvious, but it's a common mistake. They can't run your artwork if they don't have it. And you don't want to leave it to the people in my position to create your artwork, I've got maybe three hours to get all the ads done, so your shit will get gripped and ripped off the internet and banged into the ad with little or no thought. (Unless I like your band.)

#5 Artwork sizing. This is where EVERYONE screws up. Most ad mats come to me built at 10"x13" which is perfect if your show will be promoted as full page ad in Rolling Stone. But it won't be. Your ad, unless you are AC/DC or Paul McCartney will be a quarter pager probably running in a Village Voice Publication along with web advertising if you're lucky. This is the very specific/boring part of this article, but probably the most important.

Provide the venue with:

Print
10"x11.5" Full Page*
4.917"x5.6" Quarter Page
4"x6" Postcard (with bleed)
11"x17" Poster*

Web (no more than 2 rotations)

300x250 pixels (less than 35k)
728x90 pixels (less than 35k)
160x600 pixels (less than 40k)*
110x80 pixels facebook ad (less that 12k-no rotation)*
*not mandatory, but a good idea.

#6 File Formats. Your best bet is to build everything in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator and use well-labeled layers whenever possible. Also accommodate for the fact that every venue has a logo so a line of type isn't going to cut it.

That's all I gots. I hope this helps some of you out there.

Advertising you can't buy!

I was editing some footage from last year's Rockers vs Mods and stumbled across this gem which was shot at the Fallout Lounge. I now know the Ulisses, the owner's, amazing success in an obscure location with little or no advertising.