Who is Benchmade?

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Dtuluu

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Aug 22, 2018
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I mean with Spyderco you have Sal & Eric, often appearing on forums in person; with Giant mouse you have Jens i think on instagram, you got the Reeve family..

So my question is, today, is Benchmade meant to be a de-personalized corporation?
 
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How common is it actually for the head of a big (in knife-terms at least) company to be in the public eye, and to interact with his consumers?
And, how important is it?

With all the controversy around Benchmade and Les in the past year, I'm sure he's glad that "Social media guy" is a job.
 
it's very important go me.

I appreciate that Sal and Ernie and Lynn are relatively transparent.

Loved and hated by many. Yet extremely successful.
 
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Rykjeklut said:
How common is it actually for the head of a big (in knife-terms at least) company to be in the public eye, and to interact with his consumers?
And, how important is it?

With all the controversy around Benchmade and Les in the past year, I'm sure he's glad that "Social media guy" is a job.
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I am with you.

It is great (and somewhat unusual) that the head of a knife company comes here to interact with people. For me however I buy a knife because I like it and it is worth the money I am paying, not because who made it. As long as a company continues to put out quality products, I can care less who the head is, where he is, or what he is doing.
 
Personally, I believe there is nothing but positives when the owner of a company has a strong presence and interaction with their customers. Feedback is a huge factor in ongoing success... particularly in an industry with products which are highly dependent upon subjective qualities. It also suggests passion, as well as greater merging of changing company vision with customer satisfaction. However, I think that as businesses expand, it is easier to lose touch with your customer base from an owner/CEO perspective.
 
Benchmade is owned by Les DeAsis and his son John (who now runs the company).

Sal talking to customers on here is the exception not the rule. Time Reeve talks to customers in the CRK FB group occasionally but that's somewhat rare as well.
 
sharp_edge said:
I am with you.

It is great (and somewhat unusual) that the head of a knife company comes here to interact with people. For me however I buy a knife because I like it and it is worth the money I am paying, not because who made it. As long as a company continues to put out quality products, I can care less who the head is, where he is, or what he is doing.
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Thank you. You saved me from writing an answer that I'm sure someone would have misinterpreted.
 
Well.. social media has long been an awesome marketing tool, so no real sense of not having an active online presence, be it ceo or not. But I wasnt referring to that initally.
To me there`s something special when there`s a name involved behind a brand, a name im familiar with. Someone who puts him name and signature on the products & where the company is going to.
That`s noble and honorable, imho. Im not only buying a knife i like, im supporting someone`s vision of what knifemaking is about.

Many great companies are build around names.. i do believe that that plays a huge role - apple was jobs and his vision, tesla is musk. Spyderco is Sal & Erik. Hinderer, Strider, Reeves, all about a name behind.

And on the flip side, Im having a hard time coming up with a good reason NOT to have a person behind a brand.
 
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Dtuluu said:
And on the flip side, Im having a hard time coming up with a good reason NOT to have a person behind a brand.
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People aren't perfect and personalities can be polarizing and therefore potentially alienate the consumer base. And some (maybe even most) people are better behind the scenes and not upfront in the spotlight as the face of the company.

Clearly personality cults have worked very well in the past and continue to do so. I see the attraction and brand-building power, but I can't say I am prone to latching on to corporate personalities like Jobs, Musk, etc.
 
There are 2 sides of the coin - consumer side (doesnt affect ME buying a knife), and a company side (company/brand image, openness, friendliness etc).

And owners\designers actually reading those forums shows a certain level of involvement.. Listening to your actual active client base is kinda important. Again its not necessary wasting time on forum chat.
The Giant Mouse product launches on instagram are a perfect example how it should be done, imho.
 
Yeah glad to meet ya Jimmy.

All right ill try ;) Do you know how much the eu dealers charge for 555-1?
 
BMCGear said:
Benchmade is owned by Les DeAsis and his son John (who now runs the company).

Sal talking to customers on here is the exception not the rule. Time Reeve talks to customers in the CRK FB group occasionally but that's somewhat rare as well.
Click to expand...

The original Reeve team was very active here. They disappeared years ago.
 
BMCGear said:
Benchmade is owned by Les DeAsis and his son John (who now runs the company).

Sal talking to customers on here is the exception not the rule. Time Reeve talks to customers in the CRK FB group occasionally but that's somewhat rare as well.
Click to expand...

Hard to imagine the head of a company has so much spare time to frequent web forums (not just here but also spyderco forums). Is Spyderco mainly being run by Sal's son now?
 
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