We’ve talked lots about Wilson Golf and their slow “righting of the ship”. The company is trying to get back to what made them good and what made them popular years ago. We’ve had a lot of readers letting us know how happy they’ve been with the new Wilson stuff. We’ve done one Wilson review this year (with more on the way I might add) and we did a few last year. Overall our testers really seemed to like the products and most of my customers are satisfied with thier Wilson purchases. So if most reviews are positive… why hasn’t Wilson been able to regain their seat at the golfing table?
First… my take. Wilson lacks “wow”. They lack that certain something that makes golfers drool. Fellow golfers don’t get excited when you pull out a Wilson driver or iron. The equipment (overall) is really good but it just isn’t “cool”. So how do you make a product “cool”? You need to advertise it, you need Tour players to win with it, you need a solid buzz around it (partly generated by the internet, partly through advertising, partly through salespeople and pros) and you need to keep up with the times. Companies like TaylorMade and Callaway make sure that every golfer on the planet is aware of a new product. People are excited to see these products and they flock to their local shop once they’re available. Are they any better than those produced by Wilson? Not always. Do they have more buzz and flare around them? Yep.
What would you do if you ran a company like Wilson Golf? I’d still focus on the whole Staff idea… that’s something that is slowly catching on with golfers. I’d consider a small, more technical and less traditional product line to accompany the current offerings. Kind of like Tour Edge and their Exotics line. Perhaps bring a club or two over from Asia to anchor this line… something like the Nc6 iron. Get people talking about these “technical” irons and I think the buzz will carry through the line. I think you need to keep the golf balls… any company is a long ways away from making a dent in the golf ball business but it’s just something that a company needs to have in their line. I like their current staff colors and there are some real possibilities with the silver/black/red idea and the Staff logo. I’d also look at changing up their Tour roster a bit. Paddy Harrington is an awesome player but he is not the kind of guy you can build an entire marketing campaign around… especially in North America. They make great products but there just has to be a better way of getting people to try (and buy) them…
So there are some ideas from me. I know we have a very smart readership… both here and on Golfwrx and I’d love to hear what you have to say. Send us an email or post your thoughts on Golfwrx… I’ll gather up some of the best ones and post them in a few days!