Big Brother

[acompton]

I've only been trading for a couple of months and I've already received requests for charity donations. The most recent was from the production team for Big Brother. They have asked for some board games to put in the house to BB2007. However they have said that if I donate sufficient products, they would ‘endevour’ (my quotes, their mis-spelling) to credit my shop on the BB website – they stress the popularity of their site.

I admit I’m intrigued, but I’m not convinced by the terms of their offer (and I don’t think their viewers are typical of my customers).

Alan Compton
www.greenknightgames.co.uk
Great board games and cards games you won't find in the High Street

[dave_finlayson]

We supplied BB two years ago with some sports equipment, not much value involved but gave them it free. The link we got from their site was next to useless (buried away where nobody looked), we received a tiny amount of click throughs from the link and got no sales.

Guess it depends on your product, you won't have much to lose I guess but it was certainly a waste of time for us. You would think that with the money Channel 4 and Endemol have they would be able to purchase their own board games!!!!!

David

[steveaich]

For a multi million pound company the producers of BB are the biggest blaggers on the planet. (As are the production company behind Graham Nortons shows). After giving a few TV shows some products for free, but never actually getting a site credit or mention now the answer is no, unless you can give me a written contract that we will get a mention, otherwise you can buy the products like everyone else.

[george]

An a lesser note we've supplied some stuff to "Eastenders" this week, lol.

[jont]

Best to think of it more of a marketing tool from your site eg "as seen on Big Brother" and what is anything that is worth to your customers ...... or "we definitely did not supply Eastenders" :p

[george]

Big Brothers the biggest waste of tv space ever for me. Sitting in a house, erm, watching people in a, erm, house. Although some incidents in the house are maybe worth watching, erm, cough, apparently. ;)

[jont]

Thankfully missed that "incident" :eek:

I know the guy who supplied all the "silver" panels to the outside of the house in the early days - cost them an absolute fortune and did not get any acknowledgements whatsoever!

[NormanRouxel]

I was building a kitchen a few years ago and designed in an unusual Franke sink. Then I found out it had been featured in the Big Brother kitchen. As the hole in the granite was already cut it was too late to change it :)

[fleetwood]

We get approached at the shop on a regular basis by site location scouts.
In the early days I thought 'what great publicity!!!', but as others have said, they generally take advantage, and give you next to nothing back in terms of acknowledgement or credit.
The blaggers who do the approaching, generally have absolutely no say whatsoever in the final production, and no influence in getting you a credit.
If you go ahead, the production staff (directors, cameramen, lighting engineers and general hanngers on), treat you and your permises like they own it.
We now turn down all approaches point blank, even when offers of payment are sounded, as experince has taught me that we have little or nothing to gain, and much wasted time and lost revenue to lose.
I know this thread is about product blagging, but the principal is the same.
I have a sneaking suspicion that these peeps have a set budget with which to 'acquire' props, and that the less they spend, the greater the bonus they get for themselves (oh what a cynic I am!).

[buspassjohn]

An a lesser note we've supplied some stuff to "Eastenders" this week, lol.

Make sure you have stock when it's featured George, last product we had on Eastenders, the supplier sold off all the stock to France the week the product appeared!!
Needless to say we ran out of our stock very quickly.

[george]

Make sure you have stock when it's featured George, last product we had on Eastenders, the supplier sold off all the stock to France the week the product appeared!!
Needless to say we ran out of our stock very quickly.


Yeah, and we also have occasional bulk orders from the likes of Coca Cola, RB of S and Scottish and Newcastle too. So sometimes its hard to `balance` stock.

[george]

One of my big regrets is supplying a Manchester United shirt to Granada Studios for Coronation Street and my missus throwing out that weeks tv guide with `Rocky` the chip shop owner pictured in it. Have been unable to find that pic online too. Grrr.

[acompton]

Whew! What a lot of replies. Thanks to everyone who answered. You've all confirmed my original thoughts: that I should treat this with caution. I'm not giong to pursue it.

Still, it was a more interesting approach that the previous one - a charity wanting products for their guest celebs' goody bags!

Alan

[jont]

There back again today in the form of "Celebrity" Big Brother :confused:

[Duncan Allan]

We get quite a few orders for props from photographers, art directors and theatre company buyers. They all pay up front and no quibble about having to pay.

If I was asked to supply for free then I'd do it on a placement arrangement and I want credited and a decent link for the supply. But then again it would have to be worth the expense for the exposure to an audience that would be interested in buying what we have.

Duncan

[acompton]

I had a nice letter from a Major in the army, looking for free goodies to hand out to the lads who were due to go out to Iraq. He wanted to cheer them up over the Christmas period.

I thought this might do the trick, but then I remembered there are women in the army.
http://www.greenknightgames.co.uk/acatalog/Wench__The_Drinking_Man_s_Thinking_Game_6.html

What was the UK defence budget?

Alan Compton

[Duncan Allan]

The defence budget has been diverted to Trident.

You could call your contribution a Green Tax!

Typical everyone crawls out of the woodwork at this time of year with their hands out for freebies.

The same with the shops people would ask for support for causes and events that weren't even in the area or close for that matter. Not to mention that I had never seen them in the shop or buy anything.

We've been supporting a small group that I have been associated with for a while now through it's incarnations: http://www.phoenixcharity.org.uk

I made a decision years ago to support a few on a regular basis and that would be it no more freebies to all and sundry. There has to be a reasonable limit to what you can afford to give away.
At least I know where the stock is going and who is benefiting from it.

Duncan

[jont]

I made a decision years ago to support a few on a regular basis and that would be it no more freebies to all and sundry.

We get asked on a daily basis so now have note on the website to the effect we have a nominated charity for which we have raised well over £20,000.

They still complain "I only want £25.00" or whatever but they never appreciate if we donated to every request we would need to become a registered charity oursleves.

I now make all prop requests chargeable as I despise the "you will definitely get sales from the publicity" statement which never happens

[Duncan Allan]

if we donated to every request we would need to become a registered charity oursleves.

Too true.

I joined a group for a local event and the first thing that came up when talking about paying for anything was to hit the local shops for support. In a small village that had a handful of shops that was on substance level for business were expected to contribute. All in the guise of supporting the local community.

Errh... shouldn't the local community be supporting the local shops first rather than bemoaning the loss of the corner shop because it wasn't supported.

Even the supermarkets with their 'local' in town branches are using differential pricing. The prices are easily 25% more than their bigger shops. Yet rather than supporting the local community they see fit to charge over the odds as the corner shop has a reputation of being more expensive. But of course they have no choice and are making 8% nett.
Whereas the supermarkets could support the area with a price reduction.

No it's take, take, take. And all in a season of giving....

OK off my soap box.

Duncan