I'd really appreciate it if you'd take the time to register your interest, as your responses will have a direct bearing on whether I will start this e-business or not. If there is a strong response, I will start it - believe me. There are a couple of questions that I have at the bottom that would help me out greatly, so I would appreciate it if you answered them if you have a genuine interest in seeing this idea a reality.

Okay, basically this is an idea I have had running around in my head (one of many) for quite sometime now and I have decided to start some primary investigation on the viability of undertaking this as a viable profit making venture.

Basically, I am an artist, and as such I have a lot of artist contacts with whom I want to work with in order to get MMA posters and prints done in order to cater for the MMA scene (right now, it is a vigin market and I think the time is right for me to seriously think about merchandising in this field). I'll basically commission them for a portrait, purchase the rights to those portraits and make them available for purchase in poster/print format (generally around 23" x 36" size) over the net via an online store I will create.

The niche I want to aim for is the caricature market, in order to commission artists to create caricature portraits for the stars of our sport, to give you some idea of what I am looking to do, here are some examples of what I mean by caricatures (except think of Nog, Fedor, Silva, Couture, etc being in their place!):

http://krugerstars.com/Images/Sport/large_picture_01.jpg

http://krugerstars.com/Images/Movie/pacino.jpg

http://krugerstars.com/Images/Movie/jamielee.jpg

Now for the questions:

a) would you be prepared to realistically purchase one (or more) of these posters/prints of your favourite fighter?

b) what price range do you think is realistically reasonable, and that you would have no problem shelling out for.

c) above what price range would you think unreasonable?

d) have you purchased anything from an online store in the last 6 months - if so what have you purchased?

Thanks for taking the time to answer if you did.

Cheers, MM.

ps. could someone make this a sticky for a couple of days so I dont have to hunt for it? I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers, m.

That's excellent work.

a) Yes

b) Depends on the size of the poster.

c)See B

Sticky it is.

d) I buy **** off the net all the time: MMA gloves, Gi, DVDs

Bub - he already said.... the size is generally around 23" x 36"



a) Yes.

b) reasonable: $15-$20; highest: $25-$27

c) $30+

d) Yup. In the last 6 months I've purchased 2 pairs of MMA gloves, mad DVDs, and almost all of my xmas presents.

Originally posted by Mr. Beelzebub
That's excellent work.

a) Yes

b) Depends on the size of the poster.

c)See B

d) I buy **** off the net all the time: MMA gloves, Gi, DVDs

My answers too.

Oh, and I personally wouldn't want one that big, I'd want a smaller size like around 16x20".

a- maybe, I'd have to really like it
b- $20-$40
c- more than $40
d- yes- dvd's, sprawl shorts

a - yes
b - 20-100(more money for signed copies... its not hard to get them signed, bradu gets his **** signed alot)
c - above 50 for regular prints and above 100 for signed
d - a gi, mad dvd's, a capture card for my computer, a few bjj vhs tapes

a) would you be prepared to realistically purchase one (or more) of these posters/prints of your favourite fighter?
yes a framed poster like that would be sweet


b) what price range do you think is realistically reasonable, and that you would have no problem shelling out for.
I'm not sure about that. I really don't know what it would be worth. just depends on how bad I want something


c) above what price range would you think unreasonable?

d) have you purchased anything from an online store in the last 6 months - if so what have you purchased?
yes. computer parts

I would buy anything MMA. However here is the problem. There are several other artist out there already doing that. Most MMA fans are cheap and will not buy the art for $20.

The marketing for MMA is hard as ****. IF you try to put an ad on Grappling Mag or another similar publication is going to cost about the same as a regular mag since most of MMA publications are runed by a larger parent co. Full page ad about $2000

I hope that you have better luck and do not run into the same problems I did when I started. I have a website of products and until I got a specialty product (ADCC Videos) it was very hard to get anything.

Thanks for the sticky.

Carlao, thanks for that mate - some information thats interestin hehe, MMA fans = cheapskates haha. So far, the responses at IL, Sherdog and a few other places have been very positive. Carlao, also, I know of Brad Utterstrom, its a different kind of art to his.

One thing I'd like to make clear, is that these are not posters that you would buy in a poster shop for a few buck, they are high quality image/color reproductions - the original format will be digital art and so each print will be "original" in a sense, no reproduction loss. They will be printed on high quality heavy cardboard and the prices I am looking to charge (estimate - havent gone to the printers to find out the price yet) will be around $40-$60 US.

These are the types of works that you will want to frame, rather than thumbtack to a wall.

Here is a better example of charicature, and what I have in mind:

http://www.cgnetworks.com/galleryimages/1460/mobsta.jpg

a) would you be prepared to realistically purchase one (or more) of these posters/prints of your favourite fighter?
Yes...

b) what price range do you think is realistically reasonable, and that you would have no problem shelling out for.
Depends on the poster...

c) above what price range would you think unreasonable?
Again, it would depend on the poster...

d) have you purchased anything from an online store in the last 6 months - if so what have you purchased? Alot of MMA ****....

Thanks to all who responded, I'll begin tallying the results in a couple of days - if anyone else has anything to add, please do so, your input has direct bearning on my venture.

Cheers, m.

Magic your product is very cool however I think that 40 to 60 might be too much for the cheap MMA asses.

Best of luck