"I smoked a bad Castello. I bet you can find a bad Dunhill. Therefore, brand is a myth."
What?
I like the response the choir director at church gave to a guy who said the music had all gotten too high these days. He'd talked to some other men, and they all agreed with him. Definitely. The music was all being written for sopranos now. They've noticed this trend over the past so many years.
"They didn't move the keys." What? The choir director told them, "No one has moved the keys of the piano. They're where they've always been." It's *you*, you dumb sons-a-beachballs. Your perception is off.
And with that simple fact, he corrected a
mis-perception.
Same with "dumbing down" of pipes, maybe? Here's an author who's gone around to a bunch of old pipe smokers, saying "So many years ago it was different."
Well, 50-some years ago or so my evening beverage tasted a LOT more like milk and came from a softer container. It's so alcoholly now.
I'm not real smart, either. But why the heck would pipes be different than any other product on the market.
Brand counts for something. It isn't just a myth. And you can't prove it's a myth just by asking old geezers like yourself. PhD? He's has PhD in pipes? (I'm thinking he probably shouldn't advertise his education unless it's pertinent to the topic).
Bottom line: You don't *get* to be a leading brand if you don't deserve it. You can't lead the pack unless there are reasons to follow you (except in diamonds, I guess). And often the knockoffs among those who are following you, learned what customers wanted *from* you. They're copying you. Or trying to. "Buyer beware" if they can't consistently pull it off.
Brand is more important than the marketing tricks used by De Beers over a century ago when they created a mystique for a crystal that until just recently was nothing more than a hard, cold glassy thing. "A Diamond Is Forever" is easily defended as the most recognized and effective slogan of the twentieth century. Most men would *not* be wise telling their fiances they found a bargain diamond for them. Suddenly, people are bragging how *much* they spent on a diamond, something that doesn't have a long history as a precious gem at all.
You know why it's so uniquely famous? Because it
worked. At all. It stands out because you just can't get away with that very often, and certainly not the way *they* did. Our customers want us to "pull a De Beers" for them, and sometimes we have to tell them, "Don't try to sell yourself with statements you can't live up to. It *will* backfire on you."
Is Brand just a perception, then?
Well, what's with the "just a" in front of
perception. Perceptions aren't accidents. And sometimes, they're even reasonable. You can get them to align with common sense.
An old Yiddish saying translates something like, "An example proves nothing." Go to a Dunhill wall blindfolded and pick a pipe. If it's a dud, you only know that *that* one was a dud. Go to Joe Pipemaker and pick a pipe. Get a good one? What's that tell you? That *that* one was good.
On the other hand, a long tradition of consistently producing market-leading styles with enviable smoking characteristics, becoming the standard
by which other pipes are judged, earning the esteem of other industry leaders --
That's definitely added value which, for a great many people, is definitely worth the price.
And that's nothing new. It just needs repeating once in a while.
PS: Rick Newcombe has a new and loyal fan:
http://www.greatnorthernpipeclub.org/newcombe.pdf
Thanks for posting his link, guys. (I
taught logic, and I still don't get that other guy).
:
