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.