OPINION: Murphy's Magic Marketing

If you don’t know Murphy’s Magic are the giant of magic suppliers and when they get behind one of their products the marketing is huge, massive mailing lists, numerous teasers, podcasts and You Tube shows running for a week to whet our appetites before we have a chance to buy it.

They also make the first run of a new trick very limited, so as to ensure the demand out strips supply creating that most wonderful of all psychological marketing tools – the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

Here is the thing, we are human and all susceptible to these clever advertising methods, that is why they exist – they work very well.

A recent example is Dex by Lloyd Barnes. It is a card Index that sold in its 1000s in a day which regardless of how good it is, is beyond logic. Did every magician on the planet suddenly need Dex? Had they all been struggling with their current card Index and need a better one. Does every magician use a card Index now?

I remember the first time I didn’t buy a new thing at a convention. I’d walked around the dealer hall countless times for days, I’d been amazed and entertained and seen great tricks get great reactions, but none of them truly spoke to me. I’d felt I’d matured as a magician and perhaps a human being, I now had the strength to resist because those effects didn’t match any real life performing situation, my audience or my style.

I could imagine myself doing them for sure. I’d put great effort into visualising myself in a mythical situation where my participants were not grabby etc, but then I’d snap out of my dream and realise that only happened to me in the odd competition and perhaps the Magic Circle Close Up shows.

Being honest with yourself about why you want the latest magic trick is key to keeping your bottom draw empty (less full at least). Is it because it is simply cool and you are fascinated by it or will you perform it on a regular basis?

None of us need more magic, and we don’t need to be the first to have the latest product either. A bit of patience and everything can be picked up a month or so later when more stock arrives or on a second-hand website.

There is always plenty of time to really think about your magic purchases. I’m pleased the days are gone when I was capable of spending hundreds of pounds on magic and yet frustrated when spending £30 on children’s school shoes.

Fear of missing out is key to the Murphy’s Magic marketing, they know the best chance of selling their wares is the in first few days (hours) of release, before reviews before any other distractions arise. That is when we are most impressionable, a rabbit caught in the headlights and likely to make mistakes. To be honest, it is like shooting fish in a barrel.

At the convention I mentioned earlier, there was a rare hard to find book which was quite pricey, but I wanted it so much. It consumed me for two days until it had been bought by someone else. I’d never been so relieved.