CASE WRITE UP
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THE BLACK & DECKER CORPORATION (A):
POWER TOOLS DIVISION
THE IMAGE CONSUMERS HAVE OF YOUR PRODUCT IS CRITICAL
Black & Decker's (B&D) mistake was not differentiating their product image between the professional-tradesmen tools segment and the non-complementary consumer tools and appliance segment. The tradesmen that purchased their own tools for professional use associated the B&D line with the consumer tools line. That association caused them to perceive B&D tools as being cheap, for home use, and subject to failure on the job.
B&D needs to 1) drop the B&D name in the tradesmen tools segment in favor of the DeWalt name, 2) use bold "Industrial Yellow" and black as the colors for the tools in this segment, and 3) create a brand image for the DeWalt line of professional grade, durable, rugged, and of the highest quality.
COMBINED BRANDING OF NON-COMPLIMENTARY PRODUCTS WAS A MISTAKE
B&D did not sufficiently separate their tradesmen tools product line from their consumer product lines. The combined branding of non-complementary products was B&Ds biggest mistake. The tradesmen were not proud to carry tools with the same brand name as their wife's can opener or Dustbuster. In the Image Study (See Exhibit 1) on average only 40% of those interviewed were proud to own B&D while laboratory and field tests revealed that B&D product quality in the tradesmen segment was strongly competitive in the large majority of product categories.
Tradesmen typically get information about tools from others experience or opinion on their job sites. Tradesmen are emotional about their tools. They identify with the tools and use them to feed t ...