Monday, August 22, 2011

Electronic Dream Plant Wasp "skinny" ad, Contemporary Keyboard 1979


Electronic Dream Plant Wasp "skinny" 1/3-page advertisement from page 56 in Contemporary Keyboard May 1979.

I recently blogged about how EDP's Wasp introduction in North American wasn't exactly a big deal. Especially when you consider how it was introduced in it's home country across the pond with a large full page advertisement along with a full review of the synth. Luckily, it turns out that EDP had bigger plans for Contemporary Keyboard - it was just going to take a couple of months.

After that first rather unknown tiny ad turned up in the February 1979 issue of Contemporary Keyboard, there came a month without a word from the company. Then, EDP, or more likely their exclusive distributor for the Americas - AIM Limited (Bob Gross) - got their act together with the more well known full page "yellow" advertisement in April 1979.

That full page ad appeared just one more time in July, but in between those appearances, AIM decided to run this condensed 1/3-page version of the ad in May and June. And surprisingly, managed to fit EVERYTHING except the list of resellers.

The color of the ad is what really makes it stand out. If you are flipping through CK, that flash of yellow immediately gets your attention. And, since they were trying to squeeze so much information into such a small space (both for the full page version and the skinny version), they were smart to put the image and the price at the top (and top left) of the ad.

I never did know much about the Wasp, or EDP, so I went searching on YouTube for a demo and came across a great video for an E-bay auction. Turns out, its the same Wasp that I referenced in my previous Wasp post concerning the British flag.

Interestingly, the seller updated the description of the video with the final price of the auction - and it looks like this Wasp sold for only $687! Great deal for whoever got it.



Gives me hope there are still good deals on Ebay. :D

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