lost a little respect for Benchmade, SAKs are good knives

The same ad appears in National Geographic Explorer magazine, I think it might be more effective when geared towards outdoor enthusiasts. Your average knife knut knows there is always a right tool for any given job, and the ad certainly doesn't improve my opinion of the company in any way, shape or form.
 
Smegmalicious said:
Who cares as long as they make good knives?
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ME! What if they told you to lick something?
Even if they apologized, I still would buy any knife from a manufacturer after that.
See GB&U if you don't think how a company represents themselves affects their image.
 
stjames said:
The same ad appears in National Geographic Explorer magazine, I think it might be more effective when geared towards outdoor enthusiasts. Your average knife knut knows there is always a right tool for any given job, and the ad certainly doesn't improve my opinion of the company in any way, shape or form.
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That's a good point. Perhaps they should have not run those ads in the knife mags, though.
 
I think the "ditch the ... swiss thing" is illogical and a bad idea for advertising because, as we have seen, a good chunk of readers will think "hey, a SAK is good to have."

But it's necessary for them to place their products above cheaper options. It could have been less drastic without suggesting the SAK is useless. "When a $20 cheapy or that Swiss thing with the corkscrew can't cut it, reach for a knife that is engineered to be sharper, more durable, and more acessible than anything the world has seen..." You still get to keep your SAK that way.
 
It's kinda funny, admitedly I have only one SAK and only one Benchmade... but I can get the blades on the SAK absolutely screaming scalpel sharp. The BM is sharp, but less so. Still apples and oranges though. The BM is a stouter blade and it locks. The SAK rides in my pocket EVERY day because it has other tools in it that I actually on occasion use. The BM is in the "flavor of the week" rotation.

I don't think Benchmade has to stoop to besmirching the competition. Not too cool. :thumbdn:
 
I have SAKS and Benchmades. They're apples and oranges and I like both. I haven't seen that ad but it just sounds like garbage from Benchmade, but I don't have a problem with that. It's just hyperbolic marketing spiel, but that's par for marketing and something I expect to hear.

Actually, I use SAKs more as an EDC. More functions.
 
Push me into a corner and force me to give up either Benchmades or SAKs and Benchmade loses. Fortunately no one has managed to corner me yet. :D
It's a silly ad, dumb too, but it's their money.

Gordon
 
I don't like this kind of advertising at all, but I'll still think well of Benchmade. Unless they start promoting them for spraying de-animations. :)
 
I think the reason Benchmade made this attack against SAKs is because they want to win customers who only carry SAKs. Many non knife nuts believe SAKs are the best knives in the world, and the purpose of Benchmade's ad is to convince them that a SAK is not enough for daily tasks. Ads (generally) are about telling people to buy stuff they don't really need, so Benchmade is obviously trying to convince people that a regular SAK is ineffective for normal cutting tasks.
 
This has already been well discussed over at Benchmade's forum. Most arn't too happy with it and Benchmade is already well aware.
 
you all have very good opinions, personally,i own several of both manufactures and i usually carry one of each every day because i know that neither one will let me down. EVER.
however, in reading that add i see that swiss thing as their biggest threat.
that's all,good night.
 
I think from a marketing perspective they may have been trying to say that SAKs=old school, BMs=state of the art. How they came across and were interpreted are something else.
 
I think they are trying to draw a crowd to thier more expensive product. I think its less aimed at SAKS and more at Most of the general public who thinks a knife is a knife is a knife. People like here on the forum obviously know the difference betweem benchmades and SAKS and so do many people. Most people however dont care about blade steel or grind or edge geometry or anything like that, to them the SAKS for less money with more gadgets and tools are far more appealing which are good popular tools. So it looks to me as if Benchmade threw poor wording is trying to attract the basic customer who walks into a knife store and thinks "I just want a knife, so why should I spend 100 on this benchmade".
 
Walking Man said:
ME! What if they told you to lick something?
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You're killing me, man!! :D I had to re-read that post before I "got it!" I've been reading threads for fifteen minutes since I got home and that was the first time I laughed!! Thanks, Walking Man!
 
Maybe Benchmade is mad because they didn't marry the most beautiful girl in the world.

:D
 
I see two issues here: thoughts on a product and thoughts on a company.

If you like Benchmade's knives and not SAK's or vice-versa, this ad doesn't matter in the slightest. If you wanted to buy a knife from "Neo-Nazi Knifeworks" (don't look for it, I made it up) based strictly on their making a far superior product, then do so: it's a free market.

On the other hand, you could buy an awful, 85-cents-to-produce knife from a company that devotes significant resources to feeding starving orphan kittens. Fine.

Obviously, these are silly extremes, but they're meant to prove a point: clearly some people value the product more than what we might call the "corporate personality" of the producer. Others may feel differently. My suspicion is that most consumers value both and that most companies cultivate both. Take, for example, Spyderco. Great product and great corporate personality. I feel the same way about SureFire, Zippo, et al.

I might even go so far as to say that, while regarding products people simply want the best value, in terms of corporate personality people try to match their own personalities, or at least personalities they admire in other people. Perhaps a consumer who is, himself, competative and even self-promoting, would find this Benchmade ad appealing.


(In the interests of full-disclosure, I've got, like, 15 Victorinox products and 1 Benchmade. I like them all just fine.)
 
[forQUOTE=robertmegar]I think Bechmade is picking a fight in another weight division.... which is a waste of resources. C'mon, who thinks of SAK when looking at a Benchmade and, conversly, who thinks of benchmade when shopping SAK's? Wasted Ad campaign.



This is very wise. :thumbup: to you sir!



(P.S. Can your benchmade dissasemble A SAK to pieces? ;) joke)[/QUOTE]
 
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