ESEE Customer Market Research

K

Kurtz265

Joined
Sep 21, 2010
Messages
100
As a Brand Marketer for a Fortune 50 company, I am challenged to develop customer insights on a daily basis, and then develop communication strategies and tactics to reach/influence our customers. An insight is not as simple as you might think to uncover- in grad school we learned the marketing principle of the "5 whys" to help do just that.

For example- Apple markets towards a certain audience with insights in mind. Who buys Apple products? Maybe you first think of a younger customer (we know this isnt always the case, just for the sake of demonstrating a point). That in of itself is not the insight. The insight is WHY this customer would become loyal to a brand- in this case, they are attracted to the latest gadget. Ask why. Because they like access on the go to email, facebook, twitter? Maybe. Why again? Because they are socially connected? Now we are developing customer insights- you get the picture. Ask why enough times and you may get to the place where Apple ultimately wants their product to be positioned amongst their customers- to be perceived as a "must have" status symbol that will readily flaunted amongst their peers.

Well, as I found myself frequenting the ESEE forums more and more often, I couldnt help but to wonder what attributes I have in common, and perhaps even more interestingly, I DONT have in common with my fellow forum dwellers and ESEE customers. What is it about ESEE that commands such Brand Loyalty? What general buckets do we fall into in terms of age, geographically, politically, demographically? What is important to ESEE customers and what needs does the brand fill where other products simply fall short?

Clearly I've had too much coffee and spent too much time in the board room today, but I figure at least a few of you may have some fun with this thread, and perhaps we can provide some valuable information for the good folks at ESEE.
 
Last edited:
well i'm a 27 year old white male in Wyoming. i like holding hands and making snow men. that first part just sounded like a dating site intro. i like esee because i am not afraid to beat the crap out of their products, price, warranty, and i feel like a bad ass when i hold them.
 
drumdirty said:
well i'm a 27 year old white male in Wyoming. i like holding hands and making snow men. that first part just sounded like a dating site intro. i like esee because i am not afraid to beat the crap out of their products, price, warranty, and i feel like a bad ass when i hold them.
Click to expand...


HAHAH nice- Im pretty sure beating the living daylights out of our gear will be a common theme here....
 
I just beat the crap out of some ceder trees blocking our line of sight on some road layout at work today.
The 6 is a pocket machette!
 
Last edited:
hmm OK, so far we have uncovered a propensity for hacking down trees and a twisted desire to unsuccessfully break out tools.
 
Kurtz265 said:
hmm OK, so far we have uncovered a propensity for hacking down trees and a twisted desire to unsuccessfully break out tools.
Click to expand...

We process the wilderness into smaller, more easily understandable pieces.:)
It's really all very philosophical.;)

And the Junglas makes me dead sexy ("would you like some fried chicken?")
 
Kurtz265 said:
As a Brand Marketer for a Fortune 50 company, I am challenged to develop customer insights on a daily basis, and then develop communication strategies and tactics to reach/influence our customers. An insight is not as simple as you might think to uncover- in grad school we learned the marketing principle of the "5 whys" to help do just that.

For example- Apple markets towards a certain audience with insights in mind. Who buys Apple products? Maybe you first think of a younger customer (we know this isnt always the case, just for the sake of demonstrating a point). That in of itself is not the insight. The insight is WHY this customer would become loyal to a brand- in this case, they are attracted to the latest gadget. Ask why. Because they like access on the go to email, facebook, twitter? Maybe. Why again? Because they are socially connected? Now we are developing customer insights- you get the picture. Ask why enough times and you may get to the place where Apple ultimately wants their product to be positioned amongst their customers- to be perceived as a "must have" status symbol that will readily flaunted amongst their peers.

Well, as I found myself frequenting the ESEE forums more and more often, I couldnt help but to wonder what attributes I have in common, and perhaps even more interestingly, I DONT have in common with my fellow forum dwellers and ESEE customers. What is it about ESEE that commands such Brand Loyalty? What general buckets do we fall into in terms of age, geographically, politically, demographically? What is important to ESEE customers and what needs does the brand fill where other products simply fall short?

Clearly I've had too much coffee and spent too much time in the board room today, but I figure at least a few of you may have some fun with this thread, and perhaps we can provide some valuable information for the good folks at ESEE.
Click to expand...

This is something that we would be very interested in.
 
R.A.T. said:
This is something that we would be very interested in.
Click to expand...

Well, for a serious market-research response:
I'm a 34 year old married white male finishing up an undergrad history degree.
I work part-time and always have more knives than money.
I like the ESEE Junglas for out in the woods tree-processing and general brush clearing of a camp-site.
I only want big fixed-blade knives; for me, folders do all the small knife tasks I do, along with possessing more "gadget factor."
 
its an interesting topic,

i'm 47 white male, married, with 2 teenage girls
retired jeweler stay at home dad butt kicker of teenage boys
conservative politically
love shooting sports and horses and camping and combinations of the three
i've loved knives since my grandad gave me a barlow folder when i was kid
loved shooting since my mom taught me to hunt as a kid
grew up on a ranch in oklahoma and i've worked around horses and cattle pretty much all my life
as for what keeps me buying esee knives its just good simple designs that work, hold a great edge and have a great warranty if needed.
the forum is always good for a laugh and the interaction of the different folks keeps it interesting

take it easy
cricket
 
Last edited:
I have a sexual attraction to knives... :eek: :D

I live in suburban NJ and I love shooting, kayaking, fishing, hiking, knives, swimming, and just generally being outdoors. I also don't like idiots.

I'm attracted to ESEE because of the amazing waranty, fair prices, and because ESEE products are built to last. I also like that the owners are good honest people with common sense. The ESEE forum is great because it's filled with people that actually use their knives, and they also are good people with common sense who love the outdoors.
 
Interesting thread - I too would like to know who's buying ESEE's.

I'm 20, male, and like crashing around in the woods.

I buy ESEE because the company has an ego. One that they back up with a kickass warranty and good, no nonsense designs (except for the choil on some models! Lose it and extend either the handle [4] or the blade [6] for the same effect!).
 
43yo white male, single, no kids.

i like quality products at reasonable prices.

i've used Apple's Macintosh computers for over two decades, drive a Toyota Tundra, own my own home, don't own a "smart" phone.

politically, extremely right wing/libertarian, with a safe full of ARs and Glocks.
 
I am a 17 year old senior at Altoona High, PA.
I recently got into knives and now own 4 esee knives.
I bought them because of ESSE's warranty and philosophy.
 
Esee has my loyalty cause of there awesome warrenty, customer service, and personal interaction with the consumer. (the forums)
 
Flexxx said:
Just make sure the sheath is on the knife when you get physical, if not then show pics.....
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, just thinking about it is getting me HOT.

What general buckets do we fall into in terms of age, geographically, politically, demographically?

31 yrs old, white, single but long-term GF
IT/Computer guy, MS in MIS - Information Assurance concentration
Midwest/Nebraska - Grew up hunting and fishing. I love working with my hands, tinkering with things, trying to build things.

I hate people but think everyone deserves a second chance. Pessimistic but hope people can handle themselves. I think we should execute more violent criminals, sex offenders (child and adult) and rehabilitate non-violent drug-based offenders. I think we should have Unemployment and Welfare to a point - You can't get it together within 3 years or so and you should be executed. I think everyone should pitch in to help everyone else, and those who are drains or problems should be eliminated. Think all government and corporations are corrupt. Think greed rules this country and all the religious people should start acting like Jesus would want them to even though lots of them don't.

What is it about ESEE that commands such Brand Loyalty?

Great quality, simple design, no BS designs, great warranty, owners show they care about their customers. - that is very important, it shows they really believe in what they do and are trying to help others.

What is important to ESEE customers and what needs does the brand fill where other products simply fall short?

Great quality, simple designs, great value, affordable, 'less is more' philosophy (not a lot of useless designs to clutter/confuse things), the warranty is ridiculous - they go out of their way to make sure customers are happy, even if they are idiots. The interaction here on the forum also helps show they truly care about the customers who enjoy/use their products.

The brand doesn't produce 8 different varieties of each knife, each with 5 different handle designs/colors to get 'safe queens' to shell out all their cash. They want people to actually use their knives, not reel them in so they buy 10 variations of the same blade just to release a different blade where the pattern repeats. They are trying to make money by making products people will stand behind and tell their friends about, not maximize profits by catering to the collectors.

The knives they make stay in production, this helps people make sure they can get the knives they want and not drive up the value due to limited numbers of knives. This ties in with the above paragraph. Knowing that I can get an Izula II now or next year doesn't force a 'feeding frenzy' whenever something is released.
 
Being a sales and field manager, this really intrigues me. I'm a 33 year old single male, who lives in Lodi, CA. I'm a US Marine, member of the NRA, Knife Rights, Conservative politically, Fox News fan, and a Christian. I drive a 2005 GMC Crew Cab 4x4 Diesel truck, pretty much wear nothing but Wrangler and Carhartt jeans, cargo shorts, and t-shirts. I love to fish, shoot guns, 4 wheel drive, golf, love the outdoors, love most anything survival related. I'm not a big techie, as far as I go is my laptop and my Iphone. The thing that drew me in to ESEE knives was, and is, their no BS approach to design (function over BS), the honor to stand behind their product 100%, and lastly Jeff and Mike being just who they are. Nowhere will you find the owners of a company on a public forum daily chatting with their clients shooting the shit, ASKING FOR THEIR INPUT, APPLYING IT TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR PRODUCTS, and not worried about just being themselves.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top