Wham! The Video
CBS-FOX VHS 3048-50
Date of release : December 1984 (U.K), March 1985 (U.S)
Billboard Advert, February 16, 1985
WHAM RAP
BAD BOYS*
CLUB TROPICANA
WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO
LAST CHRISTMAS
EVERYTHING SHE WANTS*
* (U.S Version Only)
Billboard Advert, June 1, 1985
CBS/FOX RELEASING WHAM! COMPILATION
Cross-Promotions Planned for Group's First Long-Form
Capitalizing on the huge international success of Wham!, CBS/Fox Video Music is releasing a long-form compilation video of the group exclusively for the home market. The half-hour package of seven songs will be ship in late March and will retail for $19.98.
The release of the video will coincide with the release of the group's next single, Everything She Wants, which will be included in the compilation. The clip itself is still to be lensed.
Wham! completes production of the clip upon their return from their U.S tour this week. Andy Morahan of Big Features Inc., who directed the group's Careless Whisper and Last Christmas, is directing.
"By waiting for the next single, we increase our potential for cross-promotions with CBS records for both pieces of product", notes Ken Ross, manager of music programming for CBS/Fox. "Home video is becoming increasingly important in marketing a group. It's no longer an afterthought".
Jazz Summers, who co-manages Wham! with Simon Napier-Bell, concurs. Summer also says the group is involved with storyboards and production of the video and budgets are lower as a result.
"The video for Last Christmas cost us 60,000 pounds (approximately $66,000), and Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go ended up costing 30,000 pounds ($33,000)", he notes. "By today's standards that's pretty inexpensive".
Clips in the CBS/Fox release are Wham Rap, Bad Boys, Club Tropicana, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Careless Whisper, Last Christmas (marking its first availibility in the U.S in any recorded form) and Everything She Wants.
The video is available in a shorter format in England and is selling there for 14 pounds ($15,40). Released at Christmas time and without the Bad Boys and Everything She Wants clip, the video reportedly sold 37,000 units in its first week. Current sales are said to exceed 50,000, making the title second only to Making Michael Jackson's Thriller as that country's top-selling video.
Here, with a nod to Wham's back-to-back #1 singles, CBS/Fox is making what it terms a "significant commitment" to merchandising and advertising a support. A full complement of banners, posters and other merchandising material will be available for audio and video retail outlets. The firm is also running spots on MTV.
While the group utilizes a specially created 16mm film during intermission of its live shows, CBS/Fox intends to tie in with a Wham! tour set for later this year.
"We are laying the groundwork for an extended sell-through with this product", Ross says. "And we feel it will be a good catalog item for us".
Harry Weinger — Billboard, March 2, 1985.
