Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

[Adieu]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Good for you!
Most people imagine that the things that they like and want are what is best... But with product management, that is rarely the case, and you did the right thing... You questioned your ability to make an unbiased decision and that's a quality of a great product manager...

Of course in retrospect, your gut was correct, but your initial thinking would have led to testing... simple concepts presented to personas that represent key markets would have totally changed the robo tuner debacle... Obviously, the market had little interest.

Hate to bore you guys with process, but we dig into testing in Saving Gibson 4 and sounds like many of you have the required skills!





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I'm comfused, are you an employee?

In any case, Gibson clearly needs FOCUS GROUPS and DEPTH INTERVIEWS. And what they really really need is WELL-SELECTED focus groups, not some assortment of stoned and faded Wayne's World refugees going "far out, dude" and "ooh, tubular" whenever shown something expensive-looking and totally out of their price range, but then again reacting much the same to anything and everything as long as you give em their hundred bucks, a tshirt, and plenty of cookies in the conference room...

and DEFINITELY not a roomful of young and impressionable novice teens (whom they might WANT as customers, but ought to realize they ain't getting at their price points), for whom everything and anything looks overwhelmingly "ooh, shiney" over their christmas pack black Squier Affinity with gigbag and shoulder strap

They need to get real about their true target audience --- not just actual buyers or fans, but the people that walk into a guitar store with the will or ability to spend on their products, actually pick up their products and consider them, or at least 1) COULD be convinced to try and like a brand-new Gibson prodict, and 2) COULD save or borrow to purchase a brand-new Gibson product, if said product satisfied their demands. Note this also involves winning back savvy customers from the vintage displays and the premium corner of the used wall (which is likely where their biggest lost potential audience gravitates to).


And after selecting these focus groups correctly, they need to learn to ask the right questions, even when the answers are likely to hurt or go against management's recent plans and decisions. Very likely, a shy in-house team or submissive outsourced consultancy acted as the worst kind of enabler, intentionally cherrypicking respondents and responses that would affirm any misguided decisions with glowing reviews.


If you do work for Gibson and need someone to do focus groups done RIGHT, let me know, I have some experience in the field and could make that happen

[67Mopar]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Back to Henry, no modesty, no change of direction, no recognition of need to change...

It almost sounds like you're describing a psychopath.

[67Mopar]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

I'm comfused, are you an employee?

In any case, Gibson clearly needs FOCUS GROUPS and DEPTH INTERVIEWS. And what they really really need is WELL-SELECTED focus groups, not some assortment of stoned and faded Wayne's World refugees going "far out, dude" and "ooh, tubular" whenever shown something expensive-looking and totally out of their price range, but then again reacting much the same to anything and everything as long as you give em their hundred bucks, a tshirt, and plenty of cookies in the conference room...

and DEFINITELY not a roomful of young and impressionable novice teens (whom they might WANT as customers, but ought to realize they ain't getting at their price points), for whom everything and anything looks overwhelmingly "ooh, shiney" over their christmas pack black Squier Affinity with gigbag and shoulder strap

They need to get real about their true target audience --- not just actual buyers or fans, but the people that walk into a guitar store with the will or ability to spend on their products, actually pick up their products and consider them, or at least 1) COULD be convinced to try and like a brand-new Gibson prodict, and 2) COULD save or borrow to purchase a brand-new Gibson product, if said product satisfied their demands. Note this also involves winning back savvy customers from the vintage displays and the premium corner of the used wall (which is likely where their biggest lost potential audience gravitates to).


And after selecting these focus groups correctly, they need to learn to ask the right questions, even when the answers are likely to hurt or go against management's recent plans and decisions. Very likely, a shy in-house team or submissive outsourced consultancy acted as the worst kind of enabler, intentionally cherrypicking respondents and responses that would affirm any misguided decisions with glowing reviews.


If you do work for Gibson and need someone to do focus groups done RIGHT, let me know, I have some experience in the field and could make that happen

All great recommendations, but I'm afraid you're about 20 years too late. Gibson USA is not the only manufacturer that is experiencing declining sales. The issue is systemic. The democratization of music via internet, home recording, and the lack of support (non-promotion) of rock music has resulted in the death of the electric guitar. Industry survives through profit, of course. i.e. Capitalism. Capital removed = Industry collapse. Even if you have the capital, industry requires a market. Rock music is looked at as archaic "white people" music by promotional industry Progressives. As far as they are concerned, the sooner it is purged from the collective mindset, the better. Boutique builders can survive, but the era of large scale production is coming to a close. Even of there were a grassroots resurgence of rock music, there's no vehicle for promotion... other than YuteTube. If there were a promotional system, it wouldn't make any difference, as the yutes would simply rip-off the music via digital downloading. The DOJ refuses to give songwriters the same protections they give to book authors, so don't expect any help there.

[JMP/HBE]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars



The "Tax Cuts" were suppose to Launch Corporations into the Stratosphere Economically so it would all trickle down to us Charlie Browns in anywhere USA. Hmmmm lots of Companies are going **** up. Could it be the Politicians were lying ?

Gibson got Millions in Tax relief and are still on Corporate Welfare.

Nothing to see here, move along ...

[ICTGoober]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

It almost sounds like you're describing a psychopath.

No.... a sociopath. There's a diff.

[ICTGoober]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Gibson USA is not the only manufacturer that is experiencing declining sales.

Do you people ever READ the press releases in these stories?
Gibson guitar sales are UP almost 10 percent - they are NOT declining.

Gibson Brands - the conglomerate consists of the following companies, and a great many of them ARE NOT doing well in the marketplace.

Gibson Guitars / Cerwin-Vega / Cakewalk (just sold) / Baldwin / Dobro / Epiphone / Esoteric / Integra / Kramer / KRK Systems / Maestro / Onkyo / Stanton / Steinberger / Tascam / Teac / Tobias

Read this stuff and UNDERSTAND before you post something stupid or just a lie, OK?

[zionstrat]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

I'm comfused, are you an employee?


If you do work for Gibson and need someone to do focus groups done RIGHT, let me know, I have some experience in the field and could make that happen

Hello Adieu-

Sounds like we have a lot in common-
I'm a business analyst, writer and have managed very large technology portfolios- CMO for one of the early DAW manufacturers and lifelong musician- I won't dig into detail, you can look me up on LI-

Sounds like you haven't had a chance to read the Saving Gibson series, but we break out voice of the customer, persona and market development, product roadmaping, messaging, channel, biz dev and the analytics that make informed decision making possible- we cover the entire business improvement development cycle and tie in 6 sigma for the manufacturing side. Take a look, always interested in well informed feedback!

Of course persona-centric focus groups are a part of the process (good example is the Telecaster+L5 concept test in Part IV), and it is an important early step, but focus groups in themselves can easily take you down the wrong bunny trail- optimizing the product cycle requires testing throughout- again would appreciate feedback.

As far as working for Gibson, that makes me laugh, because we get so much push back from the "we love Gibson no mater what they do" segments. Check out the series and you will see that we've focused on basic business transformation principals that Gibson needs to regain footing.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gibson-guitars-how-save-iconic-american-brand-10-steps-stierhoff/

[67Mopar]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

No.... a sociopath. There's a diff.

Yeah, I didn't want to go there... I've heard tales from people who have worked there, but I'll keep those to myself. There are more than enough used Gibson's out there. Let the brand die.

[ICTGoober]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Gibson got Millions in Tax relief and are still on Corporate Welfare.

Got any proof before you post?
I say you're a liar.

[Demanic]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

The "Tax Cuts" were suppose to Launch Corporations into the Stratosphere Economically so it would all trickle down to us Charlie Browns in anywhere USA. Hmmmm lots of Companies are going **** up. Could it be the Politicians were lying ?

Gibson got Millions in Tax relief and are still on Corporate Welfare.

Nothing to see here, move along ...

So many things that I could say, and they might even be worth the infraction, except for the fact that you still wouldn't get it.
I'll leave it at that.

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[Demanic]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

No.... a sociopath. There's a diff.

There's plenty of them to go around.

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[67Mopar]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

So many things that I could say, and they might even be worth the infraction, except for the fact that you still wouldn't get it.
I'll leave it at that.

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Actually, you should not receive an infraction. Economics is not associated with politics in a Capitalist system. Not in a real Capitalist system anyway...

[zionstrat]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Do you people ever READ the press releases in these stories?
Gibson guitar sales are UP almost 10 percent - they are NOT declining.

Gibson Brands - the conglomerate consists of the following companies, and a great many of them ARE NOT doing well in the marketplace.

Gibson Guitars / Cerwin-Vega / Cakewalk (just sold) / Baldwin / Dobro / Epiphone / Esoteric / Integra / Kramer / KRK Systems / Maestro / Onkyo / Stanton / Steinberger / Tascam / Teac / Tobias

Read this stuff and UNDERSTAND before you post something stupid or just a lie, OK?

ICTGoober, I've enjoyed your posts on this topic and appreciate your perspective- If Gibson could magically disappear debt, the brand is still strong enough that they would be profitable- But we're talking mid $100Ms at best- bigger than Martin, much smaller than Fender and not even a bump on Yamaha's spreadsheets-

So assuming that positive income stream is possible, the far bigger question is how did Gibson get here and how well will they do in the future? I could repost the SWOT list behind our series, but the bottom line is that Gibson has lost significant brand value, marketshare and mindshare for the many reasons we have explored. The bottom line is there are simply few dealers who even have Gibson on the wall, while Ibanez, Yamaha, Fender and PRS are well represented.

So, if Gibson disinvests well, will they still be around? Sure that it likely- we covered this scenario in Part I.

Will they grow and become a strong leader of industry, growing markets and opening doors for new musicians? That appears rather unlikely unless they are willing to adopt basic business processes to avoid the bad decisions that appear endemic.

And if they don't change, a painful decline with future Asian acquisition is likely- not good for all the usual competitive reasons.

Bottom line, CH11 is an incredible time for change management where they could fix real and perceived problems. However, thus far, all we are seeing (and hearing from those in the trenches) is spin and that's not a great way to get the clothes back on the emperor-

Again, no disrespect intended, I appreciate your perspective- you represent the "Gibson's not dead" perspective that many on the other side need to consider.

[ICTGoober]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

There is NO DOUBT in my mind that Gibson will survive, but Henry needs to GO, and right fricking now. I trust the new owners to get the company back on track, securing the continuing legacy of Gibson Guitars. It will be a tough row to hoe thanks to the stupidity of Henry.

[Demanic]

Re: Henry J talks the future of Gibson Guitars

Actually, you should not receive an infraction. Economics is not associated with politics in a Capitalist system. Not in a real Capitalist system anyway...

Well, structured economics isn't, I'll give you that. I'll also agree that pure capitalism doesn't involve politics. But since that doesn't exist, that pretty much ends this discussion.

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