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Post by Richie3Jack on Dec 19, 2014 14:20:15 GMT -5
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Post by kamandi on Feb 9, 2015 8:40:40 GMT -5
Rick Shiels demos the irons and gives glowing reviews ..... www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLMX74S5c-MKoehler in the PGA merchandising show .... www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8QWedgnM6gI think Koehler's strategy for the Hogan company is awesome, and probably gives them the best chance of surviving, and then thriving. My prediction is the Hogan company will live and die by these Ft. Worth 15 irons; this will be the only short to long irons they will sell for the next 2 years, and they will continue to sell these irons for several years. This will be their Mizuno MP-32. I hope they thrive in their niche. |
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Post by Richie3Jack on Feb 9, 2015 9:20:22 GMT -5
I think Hogan's issue is going to be that they are either going to have to start endorsing PGA Tour players or up their game in terms of customization which may not fit the Hogan brand.
The Hogan irons are not cheap at $150 per club. For a set of 3-iron thru PW, that's roughly $200 more than their main OEM competitors like the Mizuno MP-4, Titleist 714 MB, TaylorMade Tour Preferred MB, etc.
That's a reasonable pricing point if you can develop the reputation of being a superior product and you'll need to get some endorsements out there. But not only the endorsements themselves expensive, but you then have pay top $$$ to advertise those golfers that you're endorsing.
The other route is to go the Scratch Golf/Edel Golf type of way of having higher price points, but the ultimate in customization along with top-of-the-line quality.
I think it's going to be difficult to make Hogan perceived as superior in terms of quality. They are using 1025 carbon steel which is a good steel, but pretty much an industry standard for forged irons. Callaway uses 1020 and Scratch still has the stranglehold on the 1018 carbon steel.
Edel is still trying to figure out the irons market. I think they are trying to figure out how to market their irons which feature customized bounce angles (higher bounce angles as well) without having wide sole.
Scratch is more about the ultimate in customization. Edel does a fantastic job of customizing as well, but Scratch will basically allow a golfer to design their own irons if they are willing to pay the money.
The problem I see for Hogan is if they want to Scratch/Edel route it doesn't really jive with the Hogan name. Hogan wasn't about having weird stampings with bright colors. In fact, the company that today is more like what Hogan Company was like is Titleist. A no frills look....all about performance and quality. You know what their drivers are going to look like and the same goes for the irons, wedges, putters and golf ball.
In the end, either the price point has to change or they are going to have to step up their customization and/or their endorsements.
3JACK
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Post by kamandi on Feb 9, 2015 12:31:00 GMT -5
Very good insights about the different niches.
I don't think the price needs to be lower, as long as the irons are perceived to be better than the competition. These smaller companies shouldn't get into a price war with the big companies. In fact, I hope they don't provide ridiculous lifetime warranties, the way SMT did before ... those may help in the initial sale, but should prove to be a headache later on.
When I first heard they were selling these in every loft, I thought they would just send unassembled heads and shafts to retailers, along with some assembled demo irons, so that maybe the retailers would get a bigger margin for assembling the irons to the customers' specs.
If it's assembled in Ft. Worth, though, then it's a finished club that they'll be sending.
One thing retailers should appreciate is the longer projected shelf life of the irons; they should be relatively well protected from quick product lifecycles that burned retailers, forcing them to drop prices on tons of inventory (like the Taylormade-Dick's arrangement).
I don't think the Hogan company should get PGA players to endorse them. I'm thinking they should find a different route and fully utilize the potential viral marketing that can happen on the internet ... they should be trending. They need talented and internet savvy ad men and marketers, and maybe create their own internet personalities ... beautiful people with vibrant/catching personalities and great looking swings that target consumers will be interested in.
Heck, they can even make it like a reality tv contest/search to see who will be the faces of the Hogan Golf Equipment Company. That in itself could create a buzz, then they can produce course blogs and tutorials, which can be very popular ... maybe even challenge matches from Team Hogan against other youtubers or lower tier competing professionals. All these different approaches to marketing would still be tons cheaper than getting a PGA pro to endorse them; also, PGA pros can drop them the moment the big companies offer more, so that's a wasted investment.
Unless the Hogan Company is creative and savvy, no way will they survive against the big boys.
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Post by Richie3Jack on Feb 9, 2015 15:53:28 GMT -5
I think it's going to be nearly impossible to do anything with blades (or pretty much any irons) without endorsements or a favorable price point or more advanced customization.
They do have the V-Sole, but I think SCOR wedges have received a lukewarm response with that same idea concept. In order to push it further, they'll need endorsements. And to be frank, I don't understand the price point without endorsements as they shouldn't be that much more expensive than the OEM's that have endorsements.
But without endorsements and at that price point, it's going to be a tough sell to the consumer.
3JACK
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Post by kamandi on Feb 9, 2015 22:41:03 GMT -5
I think the problem with most small companies that make good products is that they don't have a really good marketing/advertising strategy.
Accuflex made excellent shafts, SMT made excellent driver heads, Sonartech made excellent woods and hybrids, and SCOR made excellent wedges. The reality is, most people have never even heard of those brands.
Matching the price point of big companies, or even trying to make your product cheaper, is not the answer, because the big companies can always outprice the small companies.
Small companies need to keep their prices healthy enough for good margins and focus on a niche to sell all their stocks. Market smartly and heavily to that niche .... the less money you have, the more creative you're forced to be. If Hogan tries to rely on the same marketing approaches that the big companies do, I believe they will fail.
They already designed a really good product; as funny as it sounds, that's the easy part. Being able to consistently sell that at a price that yields high margins is the real battle, and that's why you need to spend the most on the savviest marketing people ... the real marketing geniuses, not just golf industry guys.
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Post by Richie3Jack on Feb 10, 2015 10:20:11 GMT -5
I agree with a lot of what you're saying. It's much like the local Italian restaurant that tries to match prices with Olive Garden. Olive Garden can always beat them in a price war because even if they have to take a financial hit, they have the capital to take that hit...drive the local restaurant out of business...and the return their prices or even raise the prices as they are now the only Italian restaurant in town.
The issue is that there is generally a perception that local restaurants have a better quality of food than chain restaurants. With golf equipment, that's usually not the case.
And I hear this all of the time with golf equipment, instructors, club fitting, etc...
What Tour players use this (insert equipment/instructor/MOI matching/etc)?
The small companies that have had success have usually done it by getting Tour players to use their equipment without the endorsement. But, they are usually wedge and putter companies where the Tour player can use that club and not break their contracts. Even still, OEM's are now making it more difficult by offering financial incentives to use 13 or 14 of their clubs.
Since Hogan company is an irons company now, they're going to have a very difficult time getting anywhere without endorsements because I don't see another way to add credibility. I'm open minded to trying out equipment that Tour players don't use, but I'm in the small minority.
3JACK
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Post by kamandi on Feb 11, 2015 2:30:19 GMT -5
Agree completely, most amateurs will want to play what tour players play.
Even if some tour pros use Hogans, when they start winning, they will be snatched up by the big brands.
Heck, Scratch Golf's arrangement with Ryan Moore had to make him part owner of the company, and still, they lost him to the bigger Adams Golf, then later Taylormade. And that's just Ryan Moore, not Rory, Rickie, or any of the main draws.
I'm thinking that if they make an endorsement deal with a player, the player has to come from the lower tier tours, like the Challenge, Web.com, or even as low as the Euro-pro tour. The prize money in some of those tours isn't that high (10,000 lbs 1st place for the Euro-pro), so even just taking care of their tournament fees and expenses could likely temp them to sign. They should have a stipulation in place, though, that if they do reach the main tour - pga or euro - that they will not switch sponsors for 1 season.
It will almost be like a Hogan scholarship for beginning tour players. I'm thinking that would still be expensive for a small company, though.
As it turns out, I read that their original strategy was to sell exclusively to country clubs with a representative present. That's super niche ... I hope they really thought this out. Marketing is such a huge factor, and if they are going to rely on selling these irons based on quality alone, I believe they will fail.
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