Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Half of all our new members must also be girls, imagine that. I don't know if 'girls' actually like Daisy Rock guitars or not... But I find them pretty cool, with the exception of the dinky neck profiles (even on 24.75" scale instruments... Those necks feel like toys.) That's coming from a person who happens to prefer small (thin) necks and doesn't mind 24" scale- hell, I've played 3/4 scale vintage Duo Sonic necks that felt bigger than Daisy Rock necks. I think a lot of children of both genders often start learning on full sized guitars anyway so I wonder if the whole neck thing is sort of pandering/sexist. Some women might have bigger hands than me, after all; I'll report back when I finally talk to a female.

I think female guitarists want the same thing as male guitarists- a quality instrument and a lot of variety in selection. Marketing to women is another thing. Haven't watched the Oprah network or picked up a Vogue or Cosmo lately, but wonder if there are more Fender ads in there now...
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

The research shows that women guitar players tend significantly to prefer acoustic...the Taylor T5 would be a prime candidate for Gibson to grab and market... It's a sleeper with relatively large sales volume on a strong growth curve.....It is also an excellent guitar that could use a pickup overhaul.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Henry is a babbling idiot.

Women - as we all know too well, have problems justifying Fender pricing. Gibson pricing has been the stuff that divorce is made of!
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Silence Kid said:
Half of all our new members must also be girls, imagine that. I don't know if 'girls' actually like Daisy Rock guitars or not...
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Oh yeah - Nancy Wilson, Allison Roberts, Nita Strauss, Orianthi, etc. play those ALL the time....
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

justFred said:
The research shows that women guitar players tend significantly to prefer acoustic...the Taylor T5 would be a prime candidate for Gibson to grab and market... It's a sleeper with relatively large sales volume on a strong growth curve.....It is also an excellent guitar that could use a pickup overhaul.
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And ukeleles are just lil' acoustics! Therefore, women must want ukeleles. Good work, Henry.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

I like Taylors too much to want Gibson involved.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Chistopher said:
And ukeleles are just lil' acoustics! Therefore, women must want ukeleles. Good work, Henry.
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ukeleles?????I thought Henry was going after the female an eunuch market...
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Mincer said:
Ohhh that is nice. The problem with these guitars is that they are like 12 lbs.
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Yeah and the HRFs not lite either, but if you want ebow-ish sustain, hard to beat these guys... If you get either, im comming to visit;)

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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

I had a more modern HR Fusion for awhile, but it didn't sound (nor look) the same as the ones from the 80s. It was super bright, and parts were even made with balsa wood (the center block). It weighed about 9lbs, but overall didn't sound great vs the price I paid for it, so it got sold. I don't think I've ever played an ES Artist plugged in. Steve Howe made them sound good, though.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

So back to the article, we've talked about Women and a product idea for a long scale 3 Firebird pup build to get Gibson into country market, and Nitehawks...

How about additional out of the box ideas for G to open new doors?

Pretend that Gibson adopts cutomer-driven development best practices, they have fixed quality and pricing and they come to you for an ideation session...



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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

So back to the article, we've talked about Women and a product idea for a long scale 3 Firebird pup build to get Gibson into country market, and Nitehawks...

How about additional out of the box ideas for G to open new doors?

Pretend that Gibson adopts cutomer-driven development best practices, they have fixed quality and pricing and they come to you for an ideation session...



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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Strange Henry somehow knows what women want but doesn't even know what male guitarists want, even when we tell him directly across 10-15 musician forums.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

My guess is that Henry doesn't have any of his people on forums. He also wants to be the one who decides what people want.
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

who are women's guitar heros???what do they play???
went thru guitar player top 50 = acoustic more than half...many strats, gretsch, PRS...I might gave seen a Les Paul...
Henry is striking out again...time to take him out of the game...
 
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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Mincer, I think you nailed the root issue. Any good product manager would want to see Forum input. Any good marketing manager would want to hear how guitars are described. It does sound like Henry squelched all of the thinking, otherwise the processes we've described would have naturally grown on their own.

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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

So if someone does not mind explaining to me, what did Gibson do/is doing with their dealers that has them up in arms? Thanks.

Is there supposed to be an article in LinkedIn link? If so can so cut and paste it here?
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Exojam said:
So if someone does not mind explaining to me, what did Gibson do/is doing with their dealers that has them up in arms? Thanks.

Is there supposed to be an article in LinkedIn link? If so can so cut and paste it here?
Click to expand...
Good question...The link above is Linkedin, but the series is also available at GuitarYouDreamAbout.com/blog

The collapse of Gibson's dealer network is a sad, avoidable mess..

Storefronts weren't well coordinated with online about the same time that G quality and costs started sliding and this created a split... Some customers would buy online for price but support was long distance so customers didn't get warm fuzzies...

Mom and Pop dealers provided the local support, but had to raise prices and would get undercut with online price matching.

Of course all retailers ran into these issues, but the timing sucked for G dealers... As reviewed in the series, Yamaha, Fender, Ibanez, Taylor... even little Martin and Godin used these challenging times to get tighter processes to reduce quality issues and get more flexibility on margins. They realized dealers needed relief and they gave dealers flexibility and incentives.

Meanwhile, G was sliding into economic challenges, and instead of fixing underlying issues, they passed increased costs onto dealers by increasing minimal buy every year.

With the cost of increased support added in, many mom and pops just couldn't stay in the game and could replace wall space with Yags or Ibi with much better Roi... Price points were broader, less returns and service etc...

Of course, some tried to stay close to the brand because of G mindshare so some moved to Epi only... Costs were less, but G doesn't support Epi strongly as a standalone brand, and there's been mixed results...

Online super stores had less problems because they could spread investment costs accross a much bigger book if business.

That brings us to today... Lots of dealers would love to bring G back in for brand, but costs and challenges are too great...

That means that significantly less players are getting their hands on G products at the local corner store, it's more likely they are getting time with Fender, Yamaha, etc and G loses mindshare and sales which exacerbates Gibson s challenges in a dangerous feedback loop.

If Krk is thinking ahead, they will fix process issues and start filling up dealers walls by offering mom and pops deals they can't refuse....



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Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

I think a poll should be taken: 1-Let Gibson go down/no big loss...plenty of as good or better alternatives...or.....2-Gibson needs to be saved...for whatever reason....
 
Re: Henry says ukes will save Gibson- They really need an L5s and marketing 101

Zionstrat,

Thank you very much for the great explanation.

I will head over to the blog and check that out.
 
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