You are in Charge of White Spot Pipes: Would You do Anything Differently?

[mikethompson]

Out of the blue, Dunhill / White Spot contacts you and puts you in charge of their entire pipe line.

It turns out all the Dunhill threads have been noticed by the upstairs brass.

Remember that the idea is to make money, how would you manage the portfolio? Would you change anything? Revive the Dunhill name? Make them high grade low number pipes? Drive them into a mass produced Grabow competitor? Make White Spot cobs?

 

[BROBS]

Out of the blue, Dunhill / White Spot contacts you and puts you in charge of their entire pipe line.

It turns out all the Dunhill threads have been noticed by the upstairs brass.

Remember that the idea is to make money, how would you manage the portfolio? Would you change anything? Revive the Dunhill name? Make them high grade low number pipes? Drive them into a mass produced Grabow competitor? Make White Spot cobs?

I’d close the doors and continue selling $3000 attaché cases.

 

[verporchting]

I’d call them Dunhill and resume the production of Dunhill tobacco while jettisoning all the overpriced pap that currently bears the name such as jumpers and trainers, etc. Those items would be spun off into a different subsidiary to make money. But the Dunhill brand would be synonymous with tobacco.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

First off, if everyone knows that I have been selected as CEO of alfred dunhill white spots, might as well prepare for bankruptcy, ha ha.

No, I would focus back on making my carvers famous again. A huge website presence, blogs, spot lights on my carvers, with pictures of them making the pipes. I'd send the carvers out on tours of the pipes show and pipe shops, meeting their fans, autographing the pipes they designed. Make sure that each dunhill design is associated with a specific famous carver that I am promoting. Bring in some guest carvers to do a few lines of pipes, like Ian Walker, maybe a few collaborations.
Put the focus back on the artisan and craftsmanship of the pipes.

Meanwhile, we will be unloading the stummels made in France through the back door, with children chained to work benches making stems for the stummels. Flogging the ones who fall behind or complain about minor shit like having to go to the bathroom, having to eat, boo hoo hoo.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I am now curious as to whether White Spot sales have dropped. I mean, I am pretty confident in guessing that pipe sales would be down across the board with FDA regs about to chop heads off, corralling people into buying as much tobacco as they can before August. But, I'd be curious to see White Spot numbers next to all of the pipe brands.

 

[Chasing Embers]

Out of the blue, Dunhill / White Spot contacts you and puts you in charge of their entire pipe line.

 

[verporchting]

Sadly I think the pipe and tobacco related sales didn’t amount to a rounding error for the company in the past few decades and the legal changes in the tobacco world were irrelevant to the company. Just didn’t rise to the level of caring I suppose.

 

[jguss]

If the idea is really to maximize profits I’d hire a 16 year old multi-millionaire influencer to promote the brand, introduce a “green dot” line extension for weed, sell a slice of the business to a growth equity fund, and aim for an ipo in 2025.

 

[rajangan]

If I was in charge of the White Spots, I would trade Moncada.

 

[tobefrank]

I'd find a sucker to buy the business off me and retire. I have no interest in Dunhill pipes or trying the keep the business going. I'll leave that to someone else.

 

[briarbuck]

Honest answer...find the right influencer and make pipe smoking look cool and an alternative to vaping to the 20 somethings.

 

[fireground_piper]

I went to a Dunhill outlet back around February 2020. Some nice attire and accessories. No pipes but they had a few lighters in a tiny glass case.

In order to fall in line with the rest of the current company portfolio, the only choice would be high end to keep in line holistically with the rest of the company brand. Especially if you wanted to somehow get approval to start using the Dunhill name instead of The White Spot.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

I’d replace the white dot with a red dot.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

On a whim, I just checked out - https://www.dunhill.com/us
I thought, I wouldn't mind a dunnie shirt... $475... but I can have a guy fully make me a tailored fit shirt for less than that.


So, then I thought, maybe a T-shirt with the dunhill logo... $350. Ha ha... so, these Tshirts are handcrafted in England... stitch by stitch... or is a French sweat shop cranking these bad boys out and then just they are just stamped "Handmade in England"?


I'm not sure what to make of this. I guess it is merely the frigg'n logo people are paying so much for.
Or, is there that much of difference between the English dollar and the US dollar?

 

[fireground_piper]

Yeah, I don't know much about the clothing/accessory line but even the outlet was pricey. They must have some type of historical history of quality though because all of their fashion stuff aren't pipe smokers so the Dunhill name to us means nothing to a non-smoker.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Yeah, I don't know much about the clothing/accessory line but even the outlet was pricey. They must have some type of historical history of quality though because all of their fashion stuff aren't pipe smokers so the Dunhill name to us means nothing to a non-smoker.

And, by looking at the website, it seems to be marketed to the under 18 crowd, because the model are all just children.
Pipes won them that fame for quality and luxury, and it was turning away from pipes and tobaccos that pissed off a lot of their pipesmoking crowd. I know, I know, now they are a different company... that shares identical logos and both are expensive. That pill is HARD to F'n swallow. I think that Dunhill told their pipe guys to go F off, and they just came up with that Alfred Dunhill White Spot name to keep milking that name. It's definitely confusing as hell.

 

[warren]

I know they don't own the "dunhill" name so, not a change one could make. "Dunhill" makes luxury goods and it is not known whether or not the "White Spot" producers can use the name as a "stand alone." If there are any monies available, an unknown in your question, I would look to retail relationships for possible improvement of shelf space and product awareness. All would be coupled with an assessment of the company and it's viability.

 

[tobefrank]

I would start a marketing campaign where you can order a birthday Dunhill for your newborn baby and have them put it on layby for 18 years.

 

[pauls456]

I would file down the buttons. They are HUGE!

 

[cosmicfolklore]

If they don't own the dunhill name, they should steal the Rolls Royce name, and let the car guys call their products... wait, I just googlied the RR company, and Rolls Royce is owned by BMW. Damn, nothing is as it seems.