Did Kershaw jump the shark with OCC?

I guess I'm a bit confused, as many manufacturers over the years have had co-branded knives. Currently we do OCC, Snap-On, BSA, and a PBR Marchi piece. Other co-branded partners I can recall quickly over the years have been HD, Ford, Stanley, PRCA, Hummer, NRA, multiple gun companies, John Deere, movie knives/swords galore...Not to mention the premium side of the biz, where manufacturers put corporate logo's on thousands of different knives.

It's a way of expanding ones customer base and branding yourself, and that is never a bad thing IMO. It also brings more folks into the fold that can ultimately recognize and appreciate a fine knife. The kind of folks that may have never noticed otherwise. That's a beautiful thing.

Certainly I'm not suggesting everyone will appreciate every relationship, but to accuse a manufacturer of wrongdoing in these cases is well...a tad off base.
 
Not a big deal to me. They're just trying to sell to OCC fans/collectors.

I kind of like the Kershaw Snap On version with the pocket clip that looks like a wrench. I thought about getting a few at Christmas for the guys at the shop that works on my cars, but they were a little more than I wanted to spend.

I don't have any knives with advertising logos, but would consider them if they were high quality knives and advertised something I was a fan of. Like maybe Newcastle Ale or The Rolling Stones.
 
Check out the Victorinox Classic. In addition to different color handles with their shield, you can get a green model with a shamrock, a blue with a magen david, sports teams, corporate logos, and whatever you might commission yourself. It's a billboard in your pocket!
 
Thomas W said:
I guess I'm a bit confused, as many manufacturers over the years have had co-branded knives. Currently we do OCC, Snap-On, BSA, and a PBR Marchi piece. Other co-branded partners I can recall quickly over the years have been HD, Ford, Stanley, PRCA, Hummer, NRA, multiple gun companies, John Deere, movie knives/swords galore...Not to mention the premium side of the biz, where manufacturers put corporate logo's on thousands of different knives.

It's a way of expanding ones customer base and branding yourself, and that is never a bad thing IMO. It also brings more folks into the fold that can ultimately recognize and appreciate a fine knife. The kind of folks that may have never noticed otherwise. That's a beautiful thing.

Certainly I'm not suggesting everyone will appreciate every relationship, but to accuse a manufacturer of wrongdoing in these cases is well...a tad off base.
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First off, I am not accusing Kershaw of "Wrongdoing" as you put it. My point was question their decision to partner with the OCC brand, which in my opinion, does not have staying power.

But this is America, and I am not saying it's WRONG by any means, just questionable.
 
DeckardB26354 said:
First off, I am not accusing Kershaw of "Wrongdoing" as you put it. My point was question their decision to partner with the OCC brand, which in my opinion, does not have staying power.

But this is America, and I am not saying it's WRONG by any means, just questionable.
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Rarely do these co-branded partnerships have staying power. Snap-On is a 30 year partnership that we have enjoyed, but it is not the norm. Most of these relationships are trials and are used by the manufacturer to again, try to capture a potential new customer in a market that they may want to break into or are soft in.

As I said, not everyone is going to be able to appreciate or even understand why every time, but to say any of these relationships are questionable seems odd to me, that is unless you have a specific problem with one or both of the brands in question.

The OCC relationship has been quite good for us, as exposure is high within the recognizable OCC brand. Is there a problem you are having with OCC, or am I misreading your posts?
 
DeckardB26354 said:
...just questionable.
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You should re-read Esav's post #16. There is nothing questionable about it really. In fact, there is a 150+ year history of knife manufacturers putting other companies logos or names on their products. Even entirely rebranding them.
 
You know what, it's great. I'm sure your market share increased 6.57%. You sold an additional 60,000 units. Awesome!

Since you apparently work for Kershaw as you keep saying "WE", you are going to see any decision through that lens.

After all, exposure is what matters, not what is being exposed.
 
DeckardB26354 said:
You know what, it's great. I'm sure your market share increased 6.57%. You sold an additional 60,000 units. Awesome!
Click to expand...

I detect a sarcastic tone, but in fact, Kershaw has every right to be proud if they have in fact expanded their exposure and their profits, as it's a 'win-win' situation!;)
 
DeckardB26354 said:
You know what, it's great. I'm sure your market share increased 6.57%. You sold an additional 60,000 units. Awesome!

Since you apparently work for Kershaw as you keep saying "WE", you are going to see any decision through that lens.

After all, exposure is what matters, not what is being exposed.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your post.

What I think you are missing, is that it's not all about sales with all of this co-branding. The 2 specific Orange County pieces we produce don't keep the bathroom lights on. We trust that these relationships bring light to our brand to customers that are unaware of who we are, or the broad product line we produce. These relationships borderline fall more on the marketing side of our business more than sales. Nothing beats your name in lights.

We get complaints from time to time on every co-branded pact we make...I guess that goes with the territory.
 
Thomas does in fact work for Kershaw.
You seem to think you know how to run a knife business better than he does. I tell you what, if you're such a thriving product analyst, explain why putting out the OCC models was a mistake. Aside from bothering you, what have the OCC models done aside from expand his potential market? You seem to think that by simply paring with OCC Kershaw has sold out and caved to being a subpar, sell out company, which is the opposite, they haven't sold out, they simply put out an OCC lineup, as a variation in their product line. Expanding your potential market does not make you a subpar sellout.
I don't want to rant, but you sir, are complaining about something that has zero effect on you. If you don't like OCC, don't buy the OCC models, it's a simple concept.

If you read anything in my post, read this: You are a person who dislikes OCC's business practices, so you yell at Kershaw for putting out a product with the OCC name on it. Is it just me or is hating Kershaw over an OCC logo a bit rediculous?
 
I heartily agree with Reeek. I suppose the only real danger is, as with the aforementioned Gerber (one of my first knives when I was around 6) and CRKT, these awesome knife-loving companies will find and succumb to a higher profit margin in their new audiences, and gradually move more towards mass-consumption prices at the expense of design and quality. Incidentally, does anyone know where my spontaneously bought and never used CRKT Anubis was made? I can't find a manufacturing stamp anywhere.

Incidentally, I don't see Kershaw or Benchmade going that way. Sometimes people and the companies that employ them love their product just too much. :)
 
I don't see anything wrong with OCC co-branding. While Kershaw has name recognition among knife nuts, the average (young) guy on the street would likely be more familiar with OCC. Of the 3 high quality knife manufacturers (Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw), Kershaw seem to position themselves closer to the mass market than the other two. It's no coincidence they choose to sell through Wal-Mart.
 
All very good points. And these points have been explained to DeckardB26354 numerous times from different perspectives. He obviously does not choose to value any input from those who don't agree with him. This is unfortunate as this forum is all about getting information from a very varied and knowledgeable group of people.
DeckardB26354 perhaps you should be more receptive to others view points as you can learn a great many things here. Many of the top USA knife companies and makers participate in these forums.
 
Well people also get tattoos of certain brands so why not have brands you like on your knives?

But then again I think its kind of dumb to have a tattoo of a brand
 
What the heck, if you don't like the OCC brand, don't buy anything with OCC on it, problem solved.

Now picture some impressionable youth that has OCC t-shirts and the like, who sees an OCC Kershaw and buys it. He has this knife for say 2 years time, and in that time he has matured enough to appreciate durability in a product and value for dollars spent.
Said youth decides that he wants a new knife, and since his OCC kershaw has lasted for 2 years and given good service, he is looking for a new KERSHAW knife, not an OCC knife mind you, a KERSHAW knife.

You may substitute any demographic you like for the impressionable youth mentioned above, and you have a marketing strategy.

I really don't care for knives with catchy phrases on them, or trendy logos and the like, but do realize that I am probably in the minority.

Chuck
 
Kershaw makes 50,000 "regular" Leeks in 2009
They make 5,000 OCC Leeks in 2009

Which ones will be worth more in 10 years?? ;)

How much more is the MSRP for the OCC LEEk version vs. the regular Leek?

Did they produce the same amount of both models?

Does the OCC version come in a tin signed by Mikey Teutul or come with a biker wallet or anything like that?

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Which one would I prefer?
Probably the one with out the branding
Depends on my mood for the day
It's nice to have a CHOICE though:thumbup:
Maybe I will decide when I am at the counter:confused:

The historical aspect that Esav spoke of is interesting
Never thought of it that way
It is true there branding is part of knife history
Think of all the hardware companies that used the tang stamps as a form advertising in the early 1900's
My 1st knife was a Cub Scout knife so in a sense that was "marketing" for the Cub Scouts, right?

I bought a BUCK 112 with a Chevron logo etched in the bolster the other day
I bought a Blackie Collins designed (I think Gerber made it??) Hoppes Old No. 9Shooters Knife off EBAY one night because the smell of Hoppes No.9 got me nostalgic and I wanted to buy a Hoppes No.9 collectible immediately :eek:
I heard there is a knife with a picture of TuPac out there
Kinda want to get one of those Purina knives
The ones that were like 99 cents in a jar at the old Ace Hardware stores......


The spider web graphic on the OCC leek looks pretty cool...BTW:thumbup:

Good thread
I always wondered what people thought about logos on their knives....
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Dang!!
Kershaw made a Hoppes fixed blade?? :thumbup:
KERHOPPE275.jpg

Only 500 made huh??
Better check my PayPal account.............:cool:
 
Zippo lighters. I think is says more about the company that wants their logo on the product than the other way around. I bought one of the HD Benchmade’s a couple of weeks ago, in my mind it gave more creed to Harley for having a logo knife made by Benchmade, over the years they have put the logo on plenty of knives, all very expensive some good, some not so good, none of which I would own. The Benchmade with the HD is more expensive than the comparable blade from a retailer, I bet HD isn’t making as much off it as they did with some of the other blades they’ve logo’ed.

I don’t see the knife company as selling out they are providing a service to a customer. It’s the product the customer chooses to advertise on that reflects the ideals of said company.

I could be wrong, I mean did Kershaw buy the rights to use the OCC logo or did OCC contract Kershaw to make knifes.
 
As I'm started collecting Kershaw Blurs :), I bought this year the OCC version also. :D
Not for the OCC logo (I never was a "biker type" guy :D), but for the slightly different handle - it looks great IMO. :thumbup:

KershawBlurs2.jpg

(I'm using mostly the S30V version az EDC, this is my favourite modell. )
 
If I were to buy a bike - and I have nearly - on several occasions - it'd be a H-D. Maybe this month - on my 61st hatchday. Can you get trainer wheels?

That said, I remember H-D when their motto was 'Yesterday's technology... today... at tomorrow's price... and delivered next year!'. And, they came with baskets or saddle bags to put those parts in that kept falling off. To me, it would seem that H-D should be proud to be associated with BM - can't do anything but help.

I collect and run G-scale trains - mostly, LGB. Sadly, they went under a couple of years back - and were bought by another even older German toy train maker - Marklin. They filed in February - it's tough out there. Even LGB had a H-D freight car. Sadly, the current owners of what was once Union Pacific pooed on toy train makers using their 'marque' without paying them royalties. So, some 'marques' may just not be cheaper than the plain jane versions for a reason. To me, on a knife or a train , a marque is just a bit of advertising - buy 'em or not, your choice.

Stainz

PS BTW - LGB used an Austrian 0-4-0T steam switcher - a 'Stainz' - as their logo. It meant something, years ago. My name is John!
 
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