FROM THE TOP JAKE WU I DONNER
key consideration for retailers in the U.S. It’s easy to be a budget brand with a budget price. But it’s not easy to also be competitive with other similar products on the market unless you’re of the same, or even better, quality. Donner’s products carry a competitive price point while still gener- ating good profit for dealers. WHAT KIND OF DEALER SUPPORT DOES DONNER OFFER RETAILERS? As a busy retailer, if you don’t have time to get ev- erything done, Donner can assist with marketing, after- sale customer service, shared resources and price con-
of $99. I tried to act as cool as possible while my mind was being blown. And the whole product team went cra- zy. About one year later, we sent out the first prototype to Nashville, Tennessee, and Jack in the end chose the three effects echo, phase and distortion, and the name Triple Threat. Third Man Hardware designed the appear- ance, and Donner build the pedal and tuned the sound to Jack’s specifications. It was a deep collaboration. We also partnered together for the big launch at The 2024 NAMM Show, too. The limited edition was sold out on the first day of NAMM and the all-black standard edition sold in five days after being launched on Reverb and Third Man’s online store. We’re grateful for this partnership. DOES DONNER PLAN TO DO MORE PARTNERSHIPS LIKE THIS IN THE FUTURE? We’re incredibly enthusiastic about the potential for future collaborations, both in terms of brand partnerships and commercial ventures. On the brand front, we’re actively seeking op- portunities to join forces with talented emerging musicians. We believe that by collaborating with these rising stars, we can collectively create compelling narratives within the music community. From a commercial standpoint, we’re eager to expand our network of dis - tributors, thereby increasing our mar- ket penetration and ensuring that Donner products are readily available to all. SWITCHING GEARS A LITTLE — WHAT’S THE LAST SONG OR BAND YOU STREAMED? I’ve been listening to EPs from two bands — Nein Or Gas Mus and Bennu is a Heron. They’re weird band names, aren’t they? But they’ve been around in Guang - zhou’s underground emo and shoegaze scene for more than 10 years, and they have a concert together coming up, so I’m warming up [for that by] listening to them. I would also like to mention that Cong, the guitarist from Nein Or Gas Mus, is our social manager at Donner. And Jinbo, a member of Bennu, used to work for Donner as well as being one of the reasons I started working for the company. IF YOU WEREN’T WORKING IN THE MI INDUSTRY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’D BE DOING? I’d probably be teaching English in school. I’ve also always wanted to go back to running a print magazine. Also, one of the best jobs, in my opinion, is a taxi driver. Getting paid to sit, travel around and talk to people and connect with world sounds good to me. MI
trol [for its products]. I have to say, our branding and marketing team is one the best in the industry. We just executed a successful campaign for the launch of our collaboration with Third Man Hardware at NAMM 2024. In March, we helped our ex - clusive dealer in Indonesia run an opening campaign for the Donner flagship store there. We also plan to be more aggressive in building the brand awareness in 2024 by contributing more and more to the music industry. WHAT ARE SOME WAYS DONNER’S PRODUCTS STAND OUT FROM OTHER BRANDS? From what I’ve seen, our products
“DONNER’S PRODUCTS CARRY A COMPETITIVE
PRICE POINT WHILE STILL GENERATING GOOD PROFIT FOR DEALERS.”
are easy-to-use, beautiful and fun. Take the HUSH se- ries guitars, for example. We wanted to build something with solid quality, unique design and good functional- ity, while remaining competitive with price. Jack White, the founder of Third Man Hardware and member of the White Stripes, said, ‘I love the simplicity of Donner’s ped - als, that, coupled with the affordable prices, made Don - ner the first company I wanted to approach to co-de - sign the Triple Threat with. I knew they could accom - plish it, and they did so with flying colors.’ THE PARTNERSHIP WITH THIRD MAN HARDWARE ANNOUNCED AT NAMM WAS EXCITING. HOW DID THIS PARTNERSHIP COME TO BE? I always feel thrilled whenever I tell people about this project. So, on the first day of The 2022 NAMM Show, which was also my first time at NAMM and in the United States, Christian Inman came to our booth holding a pedal of ours, the Alpha Cruncher. She told me that they bought it from Amazon and Jack White had tested it. He liked the 3-in-1 concept and the yellow-black color scheme, simi - lar to Third Man’s. Jack wanted to build something similar together with Donner — a 3-in-1 with delay, phaser and high-gain, targeting beginner musicians with a price point
28 I MUSIC INC. I MAY 2024
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