Hawthorne Heights has gotten themselves into a bit of trouble. Someone at their label sent out an e-mail to their street team suggesting that they hide record-store copies of Ne-Yo's CD to make it harder for consumers to buy the R&B CD and help the rockers debut at #1 on the Billboard chart. Interesting strategy... which backfired in a big way when Def Jam complained. HH's label sent out another e-mail saying it was all a joke, and Ne-Yo debut at #1 anyway with almost triple HH's sales.

Here is both the original e-mail and the retraction:

I hope you guys all realize that this email was a joke! Some of you got it but for those of you that did not I guess my sense of humor may only seem funny to me. If any of you are confused by any of this call me and don't take things so literally! If I asked you to stand up and do 100 jumping jacks while holding your breath I highly doubt that you would listen! But seriously, call anyway as I do not want anything taken out of context. Shame on my sense of humor!

Thanks guys
-Abby



Happy Hawthorne Heights day everyone - street date has finally arrived!
It all comes down to the next six days and maximizing our sales at as many stores as possible. We are neck-and-neck with this Ne-yo character on Universal and we need everyone out there tilting the tide in our favor. Our projected numbers for first week sales are about even so we really need to make every unit count if we want to win.
We do this first by selling more Hawthorne Heights, hitting as many stores as possible, making sure Hawthorne Heights stock is in the front and very visible in every store we visit. Get inside, do what you need to do, and move on to the next store. Move Hawthorne Heights into as many key positions as you can. Remember there are two covers so not only put them together, put them in different places. HH should have spots in all the new release racks toward the front of the store but we can always increase our presence by dropping a few in another displays.
If you don't see our product on display at the front of the store, particularly later in the week, then go to the bin and move what you can. There are a lot of stores that are not as on top of this as they should be, especially something as hot as Hawthorne Heights, so we need to give these people all the help they can get.
Also look for HH in the areas where stores keep overstock. Sometimes this is below the bins or on the top of the rack. If you find any CDs, particularly under the bins, try to move those out first to the other areas of the store.
On the off chance you find a store that doesn't have any copies of the new Hawthorne, find a clerk and ask him why they don't have it. If it's sold out, find out when they have more coming in. If it's showing as in stock, let him know that you can't find it so he knows to order more.
Here is a list of the best chain stores to go to:
Best Buy
Target
Wal Mart
FYE
Coconuts
Wherehouse
Circuit City
Sam's Club
K Mart
Sam Goody
Virgin Borders
Borders
Barnes & Noble
Fred Meyer
Hastings
Meijer
As for Ne-yo, the name of the game is to decrease the chances of a sale here. If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn't bother to put them back in the same place, that would work. Even though this record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a few sales later in the week
This is most important in stores were we are competing with Ne-yo, which is in the big chains that sell pop and urban product. The stores listed above are in the order you should hit them up.
The main thing is to keep the pressure up all week. First day sales are important but keeping our sales going and having a strong weekend are equally important to grabbing the #1 slot that belongs to us.
Please be sure to email me this week and let me know which stores you have gone to and worked your magic at.

Thanks everyone,
Abby

"Victory at all costs, Victory in spite of all terror, Victory however long and hard the road may be; for without Victory, there is no survival."
-Winston Churchill