Industry Trade Association Meeting

This past week, I attended an industry trade association meeting. As always, it provided me with the latest thinking in the industry.

I sensed a change in the air with regard to Chinese competition. While it is still a factor, there is a growing feeling that American manufacturers can compete if they are aggresive in their operations, taking advantage of the thinking of all of their employees, modernizing and developing a consistent flow of innovative new products.

There was also a sense of concern about the economy going forward, but there was a well known Economist who presented a very strong case for another good year in 2006. While there maybe a slowdown, the year will provide positive growth once again and that fears of another recession are overblown unless we encounter another 9/11.

My sense is that we are all being bombarded with bad news on such an ongoing basis that it is sometimes hard to recognize the underlying strength of our economy.

Maybe we should stop reading our newspapers and listening to TV news!

Galli gone at Newell Rubbermaid

Galli's departure from Newell Rubbermaid shouldn't really come as a surprise to the industry. His tenure with employers since leaving Black & Decker has not been long. The Wall Street Journal only mentioned his history with B&D and Amazon, but we know that there were other stops along the way that were very short in nature.

Blaming Galli for the problems at Newell, however, really isn't fair or the point of this posting. Newell has followed the path of Cooper and Stanley before them. There is in my opinion an inherent problem with aggregators like these who acquire strong branded products and then homogenize them and loose the identity that brought them to the party in the first place.

As an example, I would like to point to Vice Grip. This was an incredibly strong brand. It got a little muddled as it was the foundation for American Tool. Later, as Newell Rubbermaid acquired American Tool, it virtually disappeared as the decision was made to lump all the tools under the Irwin brand. It is sad to see another strong product identity go the way of Lufkin, Plumb, Goldblatt, Crescent and so many others that fade in the acquisition and aggregation process.

Whether Galli is a good executive is hard to ascertain when the aggregation process itself reduces product identity, uniqueness and focus. I still believe that a strong brand is an asset that should not be squandered in the consolidation that has and is still taking place in our industry.

JibJab nails our Market

JibJab has done it again and this time they have really hit our market and our industry. The title of the new video is "Big Box Mart." While the pictures would suggest a retailer that sells softgoods like Wal-mart, the name implies that it might also apply to the likes of Depot and Lowes.

I am not suggesting that this changes anything in our world, but it does increase awareness. Maybe if they would do a sequel that harpooned our government for making production in the U.S. more expensive than production in less regulated countries, then we might see something change.

Anyway, I think this is a great start. Click on the title of this post to visit the JibJab website and then click on "Big Box Mart." Enjoy!

Life After Hardware Death

Regional Hardware Marketer, Chase Pitkin is closing it's doors. Sad to see, but this chain was owned by a grocery retailer and I suspect it was a distraction from the core business. Chase Pitkin is going the way of so many others before them, but do not dispare. The latest Home Channel News has the announcement that the long dead Hechinger name is being revived as www.Hechinger.com new online retailer of hand and power tools.
Wow! There are so many great old names that could be reincarnated like "Builders Square", "Belknap", "Home Quarters" and more. It may be interesting to see if companies like Home Decor Products resurect any others.

The Inventors Connection of Greater Cleveland

This evening, I had the pleasure of addressing the Inventors Connection of Greater Cleveland. This is a strong group of inventors with over thirty in attendance. I enjoyed the meeting and the questions that came from my presentation on marketing new products to the over $200 Billion Hardware / Hardlines Industry.

If you have a group and would like to have me speak to your group, please send me an email at bob@marketingnewproduct.com .