Things I'm curious about...

I wish I could listen in on product development meetings and scrapbook manufacturers when they decide what their next season’s lines will look like. How do they decide that red is in and blue is out (for example)? How do they set about to plan what a line will look like – will it be plaids or paisley or flowers? Graphic or distressed? Will they have coordinating plastic or metal embellishments – or both? How do they decide on pricing? What about the marketing, how is it planned? How do they decide which lines should no longer be produced – is it based on demand or because they are deemed to be too old?

I wish I could listen in on scrapbook magazine planning meetings. How do they really choose new faces? Do they really sit around and discuss which are the best products (in their opinion) or are the decisions made on a commercial basis? To what extent to they actually follow the trends that come from the “troops” (like doodling) or how much do they try to create new and hot trends? Are lots of decisions based on how much their advertisers are spending on each issue? How much freedom do they really have? What do they really say about reader submissions – are some so awful that they can’t help but laugh at them? Are some so awesome that they readily admit that this is a new scrapping star in the making?

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in the house of scrapbooking celebrities. Do they really have the lives that they show on their scrapbook pages or are those for “show”? What are their personal scrapbooks really like? Do they actually have to spend any money on their pages or are most of their products samples and donations? Do they really take all those photos? Do they secretly get sick of scrapbooking every once in a while, or at least get the occasional case of scrapper’s block? Do they still actually go to local crops or is it all just a job these days?

I wonder if anyone would be able to answer these questions frankly?