Sensei has always relied mostly on word of mouth for dojo advertising. He'd occasionally print up fliers, or run an ad in the newspaper, but mostly word gets spread by friends telling friends to come check the dojo out. But what with the new building and all, he really needs to get students into the club. This time, he decided to do a commercial.
It costs less to do a TV commercial than any other type of advertising--at least here locally, it does. Newspaper, surprisingly, is the most expensive, and radio is in between them. Tuesday was commercial shooting day, so he cancelled all regular classes and asked everyone to be there at 5:00 PM. The film crew showed up around 5:30--which is when they were scheduled to get there, as sensei wanted the first 30 minutes to rehearse.
Well, I'd like to say it was a big, exciting do, but pretty much all we did was karate, while the camera man moved around and shot what he thought would look good. Most of the commercial will emphasize the kids programs, because, as sensei said, it's the kids who will keep us in business. I told him we needed to have more me in it--you know, to show that it isn't just for the guys. He said he can redo the commercial up until his contract runs out. It's a six month contract, and he said he might make a new commercial each month. However, he is having them do two months at once for the first month. That means, instead of the 15 plays per day per channel each month, they will play it 30 times a day per channel for the first month, which will be August. Sensei feels it is necessary to do this to get the students into the dojo.
I'd be interested in seeing the commercial, but since it was the cable company doing it, they will only show it to cable customers. On the upside, it will be shown over the entire viewing area, which covers quite a bit of space.
After the shoot, we had an open workout. Brian, Brian, and Tim are testing tonight--Brian and Tim for stripes, and Brian for his purple belt. Tim didn't stay, and sensei worked with Tom on his next kata, so I quizzed the two Brians on some history and tradition. It was actually kind of hard for me to remember what they need to know at white belt level. After a bit, sensei asked me to start Brian on seisan kata. I taught him the first three steps and the pivot. He caught on pretty quickly, and I don't think it'll take him too long to learn the whole kata. I told him that Tim shouldn't have left because now he'll be behind.
Then Tom wanted to show me his Wansu kata. He did pretty well. Tom is older, and not the most coordinated, but he works very hard. He'll be ok.
Finally, before I left, I ran through all my kata, and that was Tuesday's class.
We didn't have Black Belt class on Monday, because sensei's brother in law had been killed in a car wreck and he had to leave. Tonight is rank test for the three--Brian, Brian, and Tim. Cody doesn't want to go because we have to wear white on rank test night, whether we are testing or not. It's tradition. Cody's white gi doesn't fit him too well any more, and I can't afford to buy him a new one right now.
Oh, yeah, we are back on 4 days a week at work.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment