Festool TV Show

[Wonderwino]

While Timmy C. and I enjoyed our telephone visit yesterday while I was ordering the Parallel Guide Set, I threw up (not literally) the idea for a Festool oriented TV show for the DIY/HGTV network. Here are some of the ideas:

Each show would be a project, primarily featuring the use of Festools

The show would visit prominent users in their shops/jobsites each week

Festool would be a primary sponsor

Other tools & materials featured in the episode would be co-sponsors (finishes, wood suppliers, Walko, SawStop, Felder, Lie Nielsen & etc.)

Project could include: furniture, cabinets, remodeling and other (cutting boards, humidors, boxes & etc.)

We talked about names for the show: Faster, Smarter, Easier Woodworking; The Festool Woodworker, Wonderwino's Wonderful Woodworking Wanderings  ;D; Fine Woodworking Made Easy.

I wish I could make this a poll.

Who would like to watch a show like this?
Who would volunteer their shop and time to be featured in an episode?

So far it's just an idea that I'm hoping will help stimulate interest in doing things the safest and smartest way to produce superior results. I am guessing this will help Festool and our favorite dealers prosper and continue to provide us with better tools for years to come. Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[ForumMFG]

Wino,

I would watch them all day long but then I would be a couch potato.  I already am 70% of my day at work.  Festool would be a sponser but who would put it all together?

You have to remember to that the average home owner doesn't buy Festool Tools and that would be your audience because everyone that buys Festools are most likely using them and not watching TV.  So the average home owner would want to see tools like Dewalt and Porter Cable.

Just my opinions.

-Dave

 

[sw1211]

I'd be perfectly content with more YouTube videos done by Festool. I know I picked up a couple of tips from just watching the one's Tom (BTW, thanks for those Tom) posted the other day regarding the use of the 55.  Producing a TV show takes a lot more effort, not to mention expense. 

 

[ForumMFG]

There is a current thread about festool videos on youtube, I think he is asking for comments on a Festool TV show.

 

[Wonderwino]

You have to remember to that the average home owner doesn't buy Festool Tools and that would be your audience because everyone that buys Festools are most likely using them and not watching TV.  So the average home owner would want to see tools like Dewalt and Porter Cable.

Dave, I think you have a valid point about "average" homeowners, who probably consider Dewalt a big step up from Ryobi and Black & Decker.  However, as an "above average" homeowner, I know I would have diverted dollars I spent on DeWalt and Porter Cable tools to Festool years ago if I had seen them used, rather than just pictures in a catalog.  I became a convert after seeing the Domino demonstrated on "Cool Tools" and it has been down the slippery slope ever since.

The DeWalt does come in handy, though; when someone wants to borrow a drill, they get it and not my C12!

I think all of us who are on this board are "above average" in our expectations for quality workmanship, safety an innovation.  I don't think too many "average" homeowners tackled the projects David Marks did on "Woodworks," but it was inspirational to watch none the less.  "Ask this Old House" uses Festools on a regular basis, but they are not specifically promoted.  If Tommy would just mention, "with the offset chuck on my Festool drill, I can get a screw in straight right up against the side of this cabinet."

 

[ForumMFG]

AAhhh, above average..

You know how many above average home owners there are that enjoy woodworking?  Not many.. In general speaking, people who make 1 million dollars or more a year would be above average don't you think?  Less then 1 tenth of 1 percent of the people in America make a Million dollars a year or more.  So how many above average home owners that enjoy woodworking do you think there are?  My point is, trying to promote Festool on a TV show would be effective to the above average woodworker who has not heard of Festool yet, but besides that you can forget it.  Until Festool lowers there prices, it won't help their sales.  If you don't have the money you don't have the money.  In general it would be a interesting show to the woodworking audience overall as Festool tools make things faster and easier which would make a job exciting which would make a TV show exciting.

Offset Chuck?  You mean eccentric chuck  ;D ;D

-Dave

 

[Wonderwino]

You don't have to make 1 million dollars to be above average..  I think average is in the $55,000 range.  I don't think we're going to be talking about the 20-45 year-olds who have children and college expenses  and etc.  Most of the premium tool hobbyists are 45+, empty nest or no kids, just got a $15,000 -$40,000 a year raise after the last kid graduated from college or got married.  :  These people also buy Bridge City Tools, Lie Nielsen, Felder, Woodpeckers, MiniMax and so on.  I would rather buy one good tool than several of dubious quality.

There is a large group of people who would just rather do thing themselves, for the satisfaction of a job well done, frustration at not being able to get hired contractors to do it right, or just plain saving money on labor.  I would venture that for a major remodel, the labor saved would pay for a nice complement of Festools!

 

[cdconey]

Doin Davinci had alot of festools in the background.  The use of them must have been edited out.  There was too much drama to worry about watchin if they were actually using the Festools.

I don't know if I could watch a 30 minute episode of how to make domino joinery or how to use the tracksaw. 

Maybe 5 minute clips of different techniques and different levels of skill. 

I loose interest on internet videos after 5 minutes. 

 

[ForumMFG]

I know you you don't have to make a million dollars to be above average.  It was a comparison.  There are a ton of people who are above average but when you compare it to the population, it's extremely small.  More so when your talking about the population and then single out woodworkers as a group which are the ones who would watch the show.

 

[score0matic]

There are a ton of people who are above average but when you compare it to the population, it's extremely small.  

I have never looked at 48% as "extremely small"   Grinning  Maybe "

I took it the wrong way as your english was poor.

Sorry i could not help my self    by the way my glass house has been shattered long ago
Craig

 

[ForumMFG]

Chairmon, I'm not following you?

 

[Wonderwino]

There are at least 6415 "above average" people who are members of this board.  If we each buy 2-3 tools per year, that is $6-7,000,000 in sales.  A few will buy more, some less.  The next question is, "what percentage of US Festool owners (or potential owners) have found thier way to this board?"  Divide that percentage into the sales figure above adjusted for US membership and you have the potential total sales in the US per year.

Big Donero.  What percentage would a TV show that demonstrates the superior utility of Festools yield in increased interest?  It could follow the old Martha Stewart model.  She promoted her magazine on her show to find the published recipe/pattern/printed instructions which led the readers to the advertisers in the magazine who benefited from increased sales.

If the show promotes the Festool USA website, where you could find a downloadable plan, (which you NEED Festools to execute), and a link to this forum where you would find help using your tools and a place to brag about your projects, I don't see how this will not help increase interest in and sales of Festools.

To take it a step further, Festool could partner with other premium manufacturers and link to each others sites or simply promote the other sites on the shows that their products are used in.

 

[score0matic]

I think it is a cute discussion.  wont bring the results that are being discussed.  The production quality to induce a rich novice to forgo  a leisure activity that he now enjoys to take up woodworking  is ...Wow.    and if the show is not up to these standards that person wont even look at it.  Also by making a show that caters to this figment of a demographic  you are pissing off the jaded professional...Why compete against Cars, Cigars, Shotguns, and golf clubs...  where focus needs to be brought is moving the specialty trades over to the Festool system, Cabinet makers, counter top fabricators, and trim carpenters.  This is much richer ore to be mined,  First they already buy several thousand worth of tools a year and they buy consumables constantly,  there are many more of them.  It is focusing on tools rather than toys..............As alluded elsewhere "you know it is a TOOL when you cut on the top of your MFT" 

Craig

 

[mikefromNH]

It has been a while since I took statistics, but I think by definition one half minus one of any group is above average.

 

[Wonderwino]

I was watching "Holmes on Holmes" this morning and he is sponsored by DeWalt.  They never really mention this in the body of the show, but most of the closeups of power tools in action are DeWalt.  The credits always list that Mike uses DeWalt power tools.  They were on their way to New Orleans and had a whole pile of DeWalt stuff ready to ship.  Perhaps this more subliminal approach would be another way to see more Festool on TV, like they do on "Ask This Old House."

 

[Les]

Amy Devers had a show on the DIY network that I believe was call Freeform Furniture. All of her power hand tools were Festool and stationary tools were Powermatic. I think. Show only lasted a year and her designs were very contemporary. Drills, sanders and routers were highly visible. Search DIY network.

 

[Wonderwino]

I remember that show, but not the Festools.  It was in my Pre-Festool Fanatic days, so that subliminal thing must not have impressed me.  Perhaps if she had been more forward in her endorsment of the tools she was using, I would have taken notice of festool sooner and been buying those instead of Porter-Cable, Milwaukee, Bosch and DeWalt.

I think that proves that as USERS, we recognize the familiar; as NON-USERS we don't recognize the unfamiliar.  Psyc 101.

My original proposal seems to be holding more water.

 

[wnagle]

I remember seeing her use a MFT to do a crosscut before I knew anything about Festool.  I thought... what is that and where did she get it...I want one!

 

[jonny round boy]

It has been a while since I took statistics, but I think by definition one half minus one of any group is above average.

Err, not quite.

Example:

10 people take a test, and are given marks out of 10.
5 people score 2 out of 10; 4 people score 4 out of 10, and 1 person does exeptionally well, and gets 9/10.

The average score is therefore 3.5/10, meaning that 5 people are 'above average'.

They then take a further, second test. The one genius again gets 9/10, but all the others only get 2/10. In this test, the average score is 2.7/10, meaning that only one person is 'above average'.

Lies, damned lies... 

 

[gasman]

I believe Mark Twain popularised the 'Lies, damned lies....' expression in 1907 which he attributed to the 19th Century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli