SOG rebranding by consultancy

This link to the marketing campaign is really quite interesting. Thanks for posting it, OP.

Now, I've been reading through that website with a bit of scepticism and I've come to the insight that this company is doing a lot of marketing: of itself!

It makes it seem as though they are solely responsible for SOG's position as a 'category leader'. They hint that they 'paved the way' for SOG to triple their revenue in 5 years. But if you look at the results, they are just not there. I work in the field of purchasing and I would not consider SOG a category leader by any stretch of the definition. I also can't imagine them having tripled their revenue. (Oh, but of course they didn't, the consultants merely 'paved the way').

Then you read how the consultants did an 'in depth audit' and 'submersion phase' during which they spent time with every key employee. Oh dear. I can only imagine the enormity of the bill they sent to SOG. All those man-hours in consultancy are expensive!

But what did they really deliver? What was the output? Some minor changes to the logo. The packaging looks different, but to be honest, it's not that big of a change because the same information is already there. They shot some black and white photos and posted some magazine ads. Interestingly, they haven't seemed to change the core message of the brand, which they already considered 'authentic'. All in all, that doesn't sound like a rebranding to me. It seems like SOG has paid through the nose for bad consultants that actually delivered very little (it's more common than you think, still it's an error on the part of SOG. They should've been more careful who they did business with).



I have some experience with the brand. Years ago, I bought their SOG seal pup elite. It's a great allround hiking and travel knife you can beat on if you're a young dude with a budget. It looks a little too tactical for my tastes, but the design is good and it's quite ergonomical. The sheath is great, too. I even bought two! One with a serrated edge and one without.Too bad the steel isn't very good and the edge retention wasn't either. (Although, if I have time I might dig it up and see how sharp I can get it just for giggles).

This thread has inspired me to take another look at their line up at my preferred retailer. The SOG Seal pup is still the most interesting knife they have. The larger fixed blades look interesting at first glance, but are quite expensive for the materials used (AUS8 shouldn't be used in a knife of over €100). The SOG pillar is an exception with S35VN and apparently made in the USA (did they finally wake up?).

The rest of the line up is simply uninteresting. Most of their folders look tacticool and are outclassed by other brands such as Cold Steel and even Böker. I'm unsure about the multitools. Leatherman is king, and some of the more expensive SOG multitools are in the same price range. I would not even consider them. For the cheaper offerings I'm not sure. Then I can look at other options too. I'm not sure how their multitools perform, but I wouldn't say it was a unique selling point for SOG.

Imagine, though, if they made a SOG Seal pup in a good factory with better materials and steel. Sort of like a premium version. They could have a real winner on their hands.
 
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vjb.knife said:
I always liked the original Sog Bowie and the original Trident fixed blade and the Tigershark.
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I did too. The Tech I and Tech II were pretty good knives too, but the creme of the crop was always the original SOG Bowie. The Tigershark to this day makes my eyes dialate when I pick it up. Very cool, but pretty useless for me. Back in the day, after I bought the partially serrated Tigershark, I was looking for one with a plain edge. It was fun while it lasted.

SOG's multi-tools are good. I have always rated them as one of the Top 3; Vic, Leatherman and SOG. I generally prefer Vic and SOG over a full sized Leatherman, but that's just me. I have no engineering basis for that preference.

SOG doesn't have many employees L Lodd since they don't manufacture product. It is mostly marketing and sales. I suspect they have a warehouse somewhere to store product and ship to retailers like Frost does.
 
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If SOG is a small company whose employees are mainly focused on marketing and sales, why did they hire the consultants? You'd think they have the knowledge in house, too. (Which would explain why the changes seem so minor).
 
Lodd said:
If SOG is a small company whose employees are mainly focused on marketing and sales, why did they hire the consultants? You'd think they have the knowledge in house, too. (Which would explain why the changes seem so minor).
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They probably have been seeing their sales slump (or at least stagnate) and lacked any realistic ideas from employees and wanted an outside opinion.
 
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I don't think their problem is actually that their story and history wasn't known or engaging enough. I think they have always been a "tactical" brand, and that didn't translate well when the knife market shifted away from "tacticool" to more EDC-focused products. I'm curious as to how their story will remain relevant as their products change (they've been getting more EDC-friendly, and have even been produced in colors other than black).
 
SOG and Cold Steel are similar kinds of companies and it seems that the market is toward less tactical knives. But I think just about every knife knut wants a tactical knife of some kind regardless of whether they use it or not. After allowing myself to consider more expensive knives, my obvious lean was toward tactical fixed blades after a couple of the Rambo movies were released. First couple of fixed blades were reasonable hunting type choices and then I shifted to tactical stuff for a while. The tactical SOG stuff was definitely appealing to me 15 years ago. The Randalls appeared in the early 90's in my inventory and SOGs followed about 10 years later.
 
I just don’t see the point in SOG anymore when you have Cold Steel kicking ass all over the place with the whole Asia-sourcing tactical thing.
 
A few thoughts:
1- This thread will result in a few sales. It’s the nature of the beast.
2- The more you advertise a bad product, the faster you kill it. (Just a general observation)
3- I just checked their web site and their premium knife, the one with leather handle, is made in Taiwan and offered with a standard steel. They use more popular/sexier steels on cheaper knives. I’d imagine they would make their flagship a little... special.
4- So many brands living off the “needs” created by the internet. So many needless purchases resulting from the forums and so on. At the same time, so much information to take judicious decisions.
 
sabre cat said:
And just who do their competitors have?
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Is that a sarcastic question? Lots of the current knife companies have a public face who walks people through their like. Cold Steel for example has Lynn and for better or worse he drives his companies sales.

People want more than a knife. That want to belong to a group and having that voice for the group pays off in huge dividends.

Obviously if your spokesman is too polarizing you'll alienate some customers overall you'll bring more in and keep you current ones engaged.

And just to be clear; that's not a special knife company thing. If SOG is paying people for a marketing study they should have been told that. If they weren't I"m telling them now right here for free.
 
22-rimfire said:
There are many knives that I own that I do not recall the name. It is why I started keeping a list after about 10 years here. I have the Seal Pup and it's not a bad knife. It is very tough. I just don't much care for plastic or plastic-like handles. I say, different strokes for different folks. It is all just part of the evolution of things. In general, SOG's problem is value. There is a tremendous amount of competition in the knife industry and for the most part the cost of SOGs don't often justify the price any more. But that is the impression by people who know versus your average buyer wandering into Bass Pro and looking at knives.
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Yeah, I just got out my most recent SOG, it's the SEAL Team Elite. I wish they'd make a few other models that are distinct from the SEAL series. Like maybe a knife-like machete, and a few large knives, maybe a bowie too. Perhaps they don't want to be associated with 200 year old designs. But TOPS, Cold Steel, Ontario and others still turn out large bowies or bowie style knives. Whoever heard of a tactical knife company that doesn't want to make a large knife? SOG obviously considers itself a tactical company but doesn't seem to deliver what the tactical market wants.
 
Danke42 said:
Is that a sarcastic question? Lots of the current knife companies have a public face who walks people through their like. Cold Steel for example has Lynn and for better or worse he drives his companies sales.

People want more than a knife. That want to belong to a group and having that voice for the group pays off in huge dividends.

Obviously if your spokesman is too polarizing you'll alienate some customers overall you'll bring more in and keep you current ones engaged.

And just to be clear; that's not a special knife company thing. If SOG is paying people for a marketing study they should have been told that. If they weren't I"m telling them now right here for free.
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Good point. I had no opinion on Medford, not one way or the other, until I saw the owner of the company in a video. Now I’ll never buy a Medford. Never.
 
The original SOG knives were designed by Conrad "Ben" Baker, who died on 16 Dec 2019, RIP. I knew and talked to Ben many times since I first met him on Okinawa in 1986, and he had nothing to do with the SOG knives in this posting. Like others have posted I am having a hard time understanding how packaging and advertising equals "stealing market share"? Incidentally, at the last SHOT show a good friend of mine went to the Studies and Observation Group booth and told one of the SOG workers at the booth that he had actually worked with CCC in Vietnam. For those who do not know the three big action arms of SOG where CCS, CCC and CCN (Command and Control South, Central and North). The individual who he spoke to said something like 'What was CCC?" Seems strange to me that a company trading on the reputation/history of SOG in Vietnam, did not even know what CCC was. John
 
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deadzonepatrol said:
Yeah, I just got out my most recent SOG, it's the SEAL Team Elite. I wish they'd make a few other models that are distinct from the SEAL series. Like maybe a knife-like machete, and a few large knives, maybe a bowie too. Perhaps they don't want to be associated with 200 year old designs. But TOPS, Cold Steel, Ontario and others still turn out large bowies or bowie style knives. Whoever heard of a tactical knife company that doesn't want to make a large knife? SOG obviously considers itself a tactical company but doesn't seem to deliver what the tactical market wants.
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I see that the Tigershark has been discontinued. If you are interested in a tactical Tigershark (partial serrated version with no hand guard) just contact me. I have no use for mine.
 
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Danke42 said:
Is that a sarcastic question? Lots of the current knife companies have a public face who walks people through their like. Cold Steel for example has Lynn and for better or worse he drives his companies sales...[/QUOTE]
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I am not trying to be sarcastic. It is an honest question. When I posted the question, the only two people that had come to mind were Lynn from Cold Steel and Gerber's "expert" Bear Grylls.

Personally, I have a hard time taking either one seriously as a product spokesman.
 
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John A. Larsen said:
The original SOG knives were designed by Conrad "Ben" Baker, who died on 16 Dec 2019, RIP. I know and talked to Ben many times since I first met him on Okinawa in 1986, and he had nothing to do with the SOG knives in this posting. Like others have posted I am having a hard time understanding how packaging and advertising equals "stealing market share"? Incidentally, at the last SHOT show a good friend of mine went to the Studies and Observation Group booth and told one of the SOG workers at the booth that he had actually worked with CCC in Vietnam. For those who do not know the three big action arms of SOG where CCS, CCC and CCN (Command and Control South, Central and North). The individual who he spoke to said something like 'What was CCC?" Seems strange to me that a company trading on the reputation/history of SOG in Vietnam, did not even know what CCC was. John
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It's probably not surprising that a front-line employee at a knife show might not know that. In that scenario you're probably lucky if they're giving you reliable info on the knifes themselves.

That's not an endorsement of not knowing your company history and ethos. It's just an observation based on what you can be dealt at a trade show.
 
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