In this short, members of a music group recount a failed co‑branding partnership with a military‑linked management team. The team promised a lucrative deal that would align the band with the armed forces, providing funding and joint branding. The band embarked on a two‑week wartime tour, performing in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kuwait, and later at U.S. military venues such as Camp Lejeune and aboard the USS Kearsarge during Fleet Week. After the tour, the management told them the deal was finalized, prompting a celebratory night. The next morning, the managers revealed the agreement was not actually complete, and the partnership collapsed. The speakers describe the experience as demoralizing, noting the loss of motivation and energy that followed the broken promise.
Chapters
The deal is done. The immediate one that comes to mind is we had this management team that, you know, they had some ties into the military and they were like, guys, we have this whole plan. Like, we're going to, you know, and we've always been supporters of our troops and everything. So it wasn't like a stretch for us. And, you know, military guys and girls like rock music. So it was a— they were going to align us with the military. The military was going to come in with this money and act And we were gonna co-brand with them and it was gonna be this whole thing. We went and we did a 2-week tour during wartime in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kuwait. We came back and we did like a whole series of like, we played at Camp Lejeune, we played on the USS Kearsarge for Fleet Week for the Navy. Like we did all this stuff and they called us and they're like, All right guys, the deal's— go celebrate, the deal is done. Like tomorrow we get to work. So we went out, we bought a bunch of drinks, we got messed up, we celebrated, and we like talked to them in the morning. They're like, well, it's not like done, it's not like done done. I'm done. Like, what do you mean? You said go celebrate. You said the deal is done. Like, yeah, there's just a couple of things left to do. And then that whole thing exploded.
So, you know, for what we could do, we were trying to create opportunities. And when that kind of stopped and like went away, we were like, well, now what?
It just disheartens you. Like when you feel like you've gotten to that point and someone says it's done and then it's not like, yeah, like it's a motivational killer.
