Frustrating!! The Vegas name and marketing.

CDM wrote on 8/30/2002, 5:29 PM
This is extremely frustrating:

All day long I've been working with a bunch of high-paying corporate clients recording voice-over for a flash presentation for Aetna. During a break we were discussing how bad most video people are with audio and then segued into a conversation about studio video services, at which point I was asked if I work with video as well as audio. I took this opportunity to confidently say, "why yes, I can do any form of DV production you wish: editing, compositing, audio sweetening and mixing. In fact, the system I use far surpasses any I've ever seen or worked with in audio features and useability. And for video editing, it's simple, fast and powerful."

"oh really, what do you use?"

"Vegas. By the same people who make Sound Forge," I say smiling. Here's my chance to land some new video clients.

Blank stares. In fact, frowns over the name when they hear it, meaning: Vegas? That sounds like a toy. On a PC? Also, sounds like a toy. Never heard of it.

What can we do about this??? It's so frustrating knowing that if I could just get everyone working on a corporate presentation, dv project, or indie film in here to actually SEE me using this thing, that I would have everyone converted in a second and have a bunch of new clients. The problem is, they want to hear the words: Final Cut Pro or Avid.

I'm a good salesperson for an engineer. In fact, very good. But I still get broken when I see that face which says "never heard of it."

Frustrated,

Charles.

Comments

CDM wrote on 8/30/2002, 5:41 PM
Oops. Sorry. I see there's already a long thread about this. Sorry. Just venting.

Btw, I love the names: Anvil and Media Forge.
SHTUNOT wrote on 8/30/2002, 7:16 PM
I tried my hardest to snag some extra video editing work from my last indie project. It was such a pain because ALL the editing was done elsewhere with adobe premiere and was then transferred to my system for voiceovers. This guy told me he wanted it to look "as proffessional as possible", thats why I was only used for audio. I showed him what I could do with vegas 3 but in the end the name adobe won even though all this guy wanted was "cuts/crossfades/fade in/outs". I'm still shaking my head at what I had to deal with in terms of having to wait for this guy to finish "his homework" so that I could get started with mine.

I'm still working with said "director" so I plan to blow this guy away when I upgrade my system to the new AMD 2700[coming out in october?] and hopefully vegas 4 after that.[No rush though...I can wait]. Later.
PipelineAudio wrote on 8/30/2002, 7:26 PM
Fun trying to do ANYTHING in adobe

add a transition, wait and wait and wait and oh yeah.... wait

add an effect and wait and wait and wait and.....you know

oh well, strike a blow for us!
CDM wrote on 8/30/2002, 8:01 PM
I agree - if I could just SHOW everyone out there who uses all the other editors Vegas, I would win them all over.
drbam wrote on 8/31/2002, 10:49 AM
I think that the only way that the name "Vegas" will gain the kind of respectability and/or credibility we all wish for here is if and when some project that was produced with it makes some big noise, attracting attention, and begging the question "what software was used to produce that"? in interviews in Mix, EQ, etc. Frankly when I saw the original marketing for Vegas 1.0 with the cheesy looking character in it, I was quite turned off. It just didn't seem professional and I was looking elsewhere for a good multitrack program. A colleague/mentor whom I really trust convinced me to go with Vegas and I'm glad I did. The image problem still remains tho and I wish that the name would change to something more in line with the incredible program that it is. oh well . . .

drbam
RobSoul wrote on 8/31/2002, 11:02 AM
Same goes fro Pro Tools in the audio realm. I would love to have some sort of editing contest between Vegas and Pro Tools.

"Add a volume envelope. Go!"
• VEGAS: Type "V".
• PRO TOOLS: Click on view, click on show envlopes/audio.

"Split an audio clip right where the cursor is. Go!"
• VEGAS: Type "S".
• PRO TOOLS: Change tools. Click on the track where you want it split.

"Render out the final mix of a sound design project running 27 minutes long. Go!"
• VEGAS: Render time 4:47
• PRO TOOLS: Render time 27:00

And the list goes on. Yet still people, in essence, say:

"Okay, Vegas is faster and more intuitive to run (meaning less studio time required to complete a job), the audio quality is every bit as good, and it costs 1/5 as much (meaning less overhead for the studio to have to roll into their hourly rate)...but still...it's not Pro Tools." -- Huh?

In my opinion the only legitimate arguments left for Pro Tools are (1) OMF support and (2) TDM plugins.

So, Sonic Foundry, can we do anything about that?!

:-)
Rob

rraud wrote on 9/2/2002, 4:45 PM
It sure would be nice if Vegas supported OMF files, since there are so many Avids out there. Is Sonic Foundy listening???
Rahl wrote on 9/2/2002, 9:14 PM
In my opinion, to gain key acceptance, someone using the program on a major project has to come out and explain why he chose the program. Just look at the Apple site, you have interviews with people who have used Final Cut Pro. These are real people in the industry, so are most of us... Why couldn't we have these little segments on the site promoting the software?

People need to know about this nifty and they need to find out about it soon...

-André Barriault
Rahl wrote on 9/2/2002, 9:20 PM
Oh by the way, I got that blank stare on the weekend when I asked an in-law about which program he uses for video editing. He said Premier, and I told him Vegas is very advanced and far easier to use than Premier. He replied by saying he's never even heard of the program and that the magazines he reads say that Premier is top of it's class.

I had one of my friends, an avid Final Cut Pro/Media 100 user, do two last minute projects in Vegas 3, and he was amazed with the ease of use of the program. He didn't rush out and buy a PC, but mentioned that he would tell people in the PC field about the program.

A name means nothing when you think about it. We need to prove that the tools work the way we say they work. We need a user to come out and vent the merits of Vegas in some form or another.

-André Barriault
Chienworks wrote on 9/3/2002, 7:30 AM
SonicFoundry does have an end-user showcase http://www.sonicfoundry.com/showcase/ that illustrates some of the high end results from their software. Perhaps we should start spreading this URL around to people wondering what can be done with Vegas.

I've also got a user's upload/sharing site at http://www.vegasusers.com/vidshare/, but this is much more a "weekend warrior" collection. I'll admit, since i'm one of the larger contributors, that the videos here lack a lot of polish, but they do show how the power and simplicity of SonicFoundry's software allows projects to be created easily.
Foreverain4 wrote on 9/4/2002, 8:41 AM
ya know, i dont really care if people know about vegas. i have been using it for 3 years very heavily on both audio and video. the more people that know about it, the less edge i have in the industry. i could care less if people have never heard of it! the end product is all that matters, and that involves more than a piece of software.



lynn
www.therecordinghouse.com

LarryP wrote on 9/4/2002, 3:59 PM
It's also about survival.

Lack of market share means lack of income which can in turn lead to going out of business.

I really like the product too much to see that happen.

Larry
CDM wrote on 9/4/2002, 4:53 PM
boy... I didn't quite realize the nerve I'd hit writing this (47+ posts in the video forum). Sorry. The intent was really just to draw attention to the fact that I wish Vegas had more marketshare and, thus, more revenue from it to make it even better. I use Vegas with ALL my clients, both audio and video, but it's definitely the Video clients that tend to be a little more paranoid about the tools you use since the output is a little more subjective and has more formats than just handing someone a mastered audio CD.

anyway, that's it. Back to work.
Geoff_Wood wrote on 9/5/2002, 12:28 AM
Just today had another 'instance' from a lapsed Protools type, who when I replied to his "What do you use ?" question with "Vegas", he responded "Isn't that a Video application ?"

Product awareness ? How many potential audio users have just skipped over product without even bothering to even give it a cursory look, mislead by the name ?
GomezRa wrote on 9/5/2002, 6:21 PM
I'm still using Vegas Audio, and honestly, I think that SF could do a better job of marketing Vegas Video as the continuation of that line, if that is there intention. It wasn't until recently that I'd been told that the "new versions of Audio" really are Vegas Video, by SF support. I have no need for the Video tools. Did SF really make significant improvements to the audio features too? If so, I'd buy the latest version tomorrow, but once again, seems like someones not doing such a great job with the marketing.
BarryB wrote on 9/6/2002, 1:04 PM
Why is SOFO is keeping soquiet on this one. No response on any of the posts regarding this topic (there are 3 or 4) except something about keepin the Icon the same. So C'mon SOFO, speak up about your marketing philosophy! What do you have to say about this? We all know you're reading.