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Brand Talk - Wilson Staff

SuperStroke
JB,

This thread raises a question in my mind: Do you know what age group spends the most money on "hard" (clubs/balls) golf goods?
 
BMiles said:
JB,

This thread raises a question in my mind: Do you know what age group spends the most money on "hard" (clubs/balls) golf goods?
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Yes, and it is not the young kids. (right now)
 
jlukes said:
GirardCorp - great point about the website.
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I think Mizuno's website is similar where you can navigate to the different areas of sports gear they have from the golf site.
 
So I posted in one of the other Wilson threads last week during the show, but the thoughts are appropriate here as well. The Brand Talk was great BTW. This and an interview I heard with Michael V. Last week struck me though. This company has been in the Golf industry for a long time. IIRC, they are the ONLY company to have been present at every single PGA show since the beginning.

I say all of this to say that I think they recognize at there is still work to be done, but what I hear in Michael V's voice is the enthusiasm to move forward and continue to develop the brand and improve. If they have that type of commitment then they will get a look from me. I mean, why not? They appear to be committed, and that's half the battle in almost any industry.

JM
 
jlukes said:
My blunt opinion is that the Wilson appears old. I don't associate them as being fresh. Does that have anything to do with the quality/performance of their latest releases? Absolutely not.

For me it's a brand/marketing issue.

Cobra was heading down the same path. But they hit the reset button. They completely overhauled the brand with flashy colors and brand image of Rickie Fowler. Sorry for the pun, but cobra shed their old skin and it's helped them make a comeback. Are they anywhere near that of Callaway and TaylorMade in terms of marketshare? No, but they are carving out their own little segment of the market and staying relevant.

I don't know if it's possible for Wilson to do the same with their current branding/image
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Just an anecdote about Cobra from my small neck of the woods. We have two full service golf shops within 45 minutes of us. Last year, they both went heavy with Cobra. The larger shop, which is in a larger community, gave Cobra as much space as its traditional best selling lines (Ping, Titleist and Taylormade) and more than Callaway. The other shop carried Cobra for the first time in several years. Both said Cobra sold poorly - the larger one has cut their floor space to 1/3 of what it was last year and the smaller one dropped them again.
 
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Scrap Iron said:
I think Mizuno's website is similar where you can navigate to the different areas of sports gear they have from the golf site.
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I checked out mizuno. It all starts the same but when you select irons for example you get into a more imformative website instead of just an "online store" type format.
 
Girardcorp said:
It'd be nice if Amer/Wilson allowed Wilson Staff to have its own website. I mean it's functional and all but Wilson Staff will never truly stand out if I can just click at the top and end up in baseball or tennis racquets.... I did notice that the 2015 items have better graphics and more information than the 14 models but I still think if they were free to design their own site it would help with the other marketing efforts.

A couple additional thoughts: I think part of the problem is people can't see the difference between Wilson and Wilson Staff for branding. I get the big box things but these are "made for" clubs from a different company. W/S is designed and made for the company starting in Chicago. Lastly Callaway and Adams sell box sets at Costco. That doesn't affect my opinion of them.
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This times 1000. They desperately need their own website. In addition, the functionality of the website for golf is sketchy. Limited options and sometimes it locks up when adjusting quantities or shafts options. Investing in a much higher quality website would pay dividends, and they could still link to the Wilson website.
 
BMiles said:
Just an anecdote about Cobra from my small neck of the woods. We have two full service golf shops within 45 minutes of us. Last year, they both went heavy with Cobra. The larger shop, which is in a larger community, gave Cobra as much space as its traditional best selling lines (Ping, Titleist and Taylormade) and more than Callaway. The other shop carried Cobra for the first time in several years. Both said Cobra sold poorly - the larger one has cut their floor space to 1/3 of what it waslast year and the smaller one dropped them again.
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I've experienced that Cobra is really not looked upon too fondly by most golfers outside of THP. I don't know why but that's for another thread.
 
FWIW,
Nike has all of their sports on their shared website too.
Nobody has said it was an issue for them.
 
JB said:
FWIW,
Nike has all of their sports on their shared website too.
Nobody has said it was an issue for them.
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But to be fair, they have arguably the two most popular male golfers on the planet along with arguably the most popular female golfer wearing their logo every week. They don't need to worry about an appealing website
 
PhillyV said:
But to be fair, they have arguably the two most popular male golfers on the planet along with arguably the most popular female golfer wearing their logo every week. They don't need to worry about an appealing website
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And yet they are not selling hard goods at or near the top.
 
JB said:
And yet they are not selling hard goods at or near the top.
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Agreed. I don't think they ever have and I don't think they ever will. But when it comes down to it, someone who has zero clue about equipment will go to dicks and pick up a dozen Nike PD Soft over the Duo because they'll be playing a ball with a nike swoosh like tiger
 
PhillyV said:
But to be fair, they have arguably the two most popular male golfers on the planet along with arguably the most popular female golfer wearing their logo every week. They don't need to worry about an appealing website
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Tell that to Blugold, he has had some serious complaints and difficulties with their website in the past.
 
God you guys take every single word people say to such serious literal extent it's impossible to speak in general terms. My bad. The Nike site sucks
 
PhillyV said:
God you guys take every single word people say to such serious literal extent it's impossible to speak in general terms. My bad. The Nike site sucks
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Agreed.
 
Brand Talk - Wilson Staff

I've enjoyed this thread. Lots of good back and forth.

My question since Bridgestone is thrown out a few times as a comparison.

In my opinion it seems Bridgestone has had or built a golf brand over the past 5 to 10 years.

Wilson is seemingly having to remake it's image. In my mind it's tougher to do that versus build something new.

I do agree Wilson thread will grow exponentially on here over the next 7 months.
 
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I have had no issues ordering from their website. I had thought it was a constructive suggestion on something that could help them differentiate because apparently people can't figure out the differences otherwise. Didn't see much else of the sort suggested except spend lots of money, which just isn't in the budget for them.
 
You do bring up a good point. To me it seems like rebuilding an image is tougher than building one from the ground up but I could be way off
 
ArmyGolf said:
I think that right now the average THPer or prosumer is much more in tune with the quality and array of Wilson Staff products, whereas the average golfer has no idea that Wilson is making really great clubs. As such, the name doesn't carry a lot of panache out on the course. That could be also because it's not really available up here, so take my opinion for what it's worth.
They really seem passionate about what they are doing, and they have the equipment to fit a wide array of golfers so I see no reason why they can't continue to climb.
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sparksjr said:
Gosh I remember how badly I wanted a set of the fat shaft irons. I had just gotten into golf, but I was a broke high school kid so I never got a set of them. Unfortunately, until #PersonalDistance, that was the last time I even thought about Wilson as a golf manufacturer. It has been said already, but growing up I saw them as a box set I could get at Wally.

I think the average golfer still thinks that. heck, before #PersonalDistance I'd say most THPers did and I know I did. I didn't buy the Nexus stand bag because it had Wilson Staff plastered on the side of it. Right or wrong that's how I was. Of course now, thanks to Wilson and THP, I see that they are not at all a Walmart club and if I were in the market for new clubs I would certainly give the new D200 line a shot.

I agree they have a hole to climb out of, and I like the comparison to Cobra a few years back. I am nto sure what they are going to do to get out of the hole, but fortunately for them they have people way smarter than me helping them do it.

I know the guys gaming their gear in Legacy will be impressed and I'm looking forward to hearing their thoughts (heck, maybe I'll get luck and be one of them).
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I was guilty of not giving W/S a second look in many, many years. I agree most golfers, outside of THP, really don't have a clue as to the quality of the products that W/S currently produces. I'm really enjoying my C100's and I would think that most "average" golfers would as well. JB's feedback on the D200's has been great. However, unless and until W/S starts to be noticed by "Joe golfer" it's going to be a long haul for them.
 
I'm just outside Rockford, IL not really far from Chicago. My local golf store does have Wilson staff in stock -- several lines of their clubs actually. I don't know if I want to buy new irons, but may demo day the D200s this spring.

At least Wilson appears to believe in their product. I own a Cobra Biocell driver, but noticed it has a bit of rust on it. It's not a huge amount, but I notice it. I also saw a Cobra interview where they backtracked from the "clunky" Biocell irons and basically admitted they were a mistake, this was while plugging the new irons. Personally, that sticks with me and has really reduced my interest in their brand for example. If they don't believe in their product then why do I want to buy it?

I've had an interest in Wilson because my Dad gave me some hand me down clubs as a teen. If I lived a long ways from Chicago then the opportunity to even see Wilson clubs would likely be greatly diminished and my chance of buying would be minimal. I'm planning to buy Duo Spin golf balls once in stock!

Dave
 
JB said:
Yes, and it is not the young kids. (right now)
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Makes sense with what their "target" market is right now in the US. (older folks)
 
dthrog00 said:
I'm just outside Rockford, IL not really far from Chicago. My local golf store does have Wilson staff in stock -- several lines of their clubs actually. I don't know if I want to buy new irons, but may demo day the D200s this spring.

At least Wilson appears to believe in their product. I own a Cobra Biocell driver, but noticed it has a bit of rust on it. It's not a huge amount, but I notice it. I also saw a Cobra interview where they backtracked from the "clunky" Biocell irons and basically admitted they were a mistake, this was while plugging the new irons. Personally, that sticks with me and has really reduced my interest in their brand for example. If they don't believe in their product then why do I want to buy it?

I've had an interest in Wilson because my Dad gave me some hand me down clubs as a teen. If I lived a long ways from Chicago then the opportunity to even see Wilson clubs would likely be greatly diminished and my chance of buying would be minimal. I'm planning to buy Duo Spin golf balls once in stock!

Dave
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Can you elaborate on the bold part? In my time with Cobra, they absolutely stood behind the BioCell during the life span of the irons and did not move to something "less clunky" in the Fly-Z line that replaced the Bio Cell irons after the year.

It is very nice to have Wilson in stock locally. Glad we have multiple THP Events (including one with Wilson) in the Chicago area this year.
 
Intersting thread. I, like the majority of the golfing public, have always associated Wilson as a premium maker of irons. for whatever reason they seemed to excell and pay more attention to this aspect of their equipment. I loved the GE 1200 line, the firesticks, to an extent the deep red series and now the C line but I think the misconceptions within their line is that people don't differentiate between their high end line (FCD and FG) and the cheapo box sets that you can get for 200 bucks. It looks like they're trying to distance the premium line from those big box store sets which is nice to see. Until you actually get out and try some of their premium gear you'll never know and probably still have that same misleading opinion of the company.
 
This is totally subjective, but the W/S shield is one of the greatest logos in golf - and tennis for that matter. It's just immediately recognizable, simple, and it calls to my mind images of beautiful old school irons and tennis rackets, images of CLASS. It makes me think of not just a golfer, but a true PLAYER and lover of the game due to the brand's history. Some have said that W/S need to "reinvent themselves" and get flashier a la Cobra, but I personally think they need to be careful here, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a powerful sense of nostalgia in the best possible way from them.
 
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