New TaylorMade CEO Ben Sharpe: "People want us to be the renegade"

[mvmac]

Sharpe admits that in the past 18 months TMAG got "a little bit away from who we are" and "got a little bit carried away with our messaging". Which to me basically means they went away from white and their R and Burner brands.

Also discussed is the future of Adams Golf.

http://www.golfdigest.com/blogs/the-loop/2014/11/new-taylormade-ceo-ben-sharpe.html

GD: Is part of that enthusiasm driven by your stated goals of managing inventories and less cascading down of prices?

Sharpe: They want us to lead that charge, but in a responsible way. Still, talk is cheap and you get judged by what you do, not by what you say. All I ask is that we get judged by what we do. We want to address the challenges, but also introduce product in a cool way. Something that hits a nerve with every golfer -- like what we did with the introduction of the RSi irons -- where the golfer says, "Yeah, that could be for me."

GD: What's the path to do that?

Sharpe: Getting back to who we are: cool, exciting and [with] technologies that are better than their predecessors. And the marketing campaigns that are around those really need to strike to the core of the golfer. That's what it is all about and maybe, over the last 18 months, we got a little bit away from who we are. Sometimes I think we got a little bit carried away with our messaging. But I think what you saw with RSi and what you'll see with R15 and AeroBurner is that we're right on point.

I don't understand this, are their Callaway, Titleist and PING spies on this site?

GD:Is the average consumer confused? Bored? Angry? Eager?

Sharpe: If you listen to the people on the blog sites I'd say they are angry. But if you listen to the golfers out there -- because a lot of people who are on the blog sites are our competitors -- I would say there is some confusion. What product is the best one for me? Why is this one better? And why does this one cost this much and why does the other one cost that much? That's not an angry emotion. They're just a little confused.

[Jakester23]

So I'm confused on their direction?

[newtogolf]

It takes a big company to admit their mistakes though they lost me a bit with the last quote.  I'd prefer they say that they lost their way but they are back on track and leave out all the conspiracy stuff.  Golfers want good products and don't mind good marketing just don't insult our intelligence.

[jamo]

It takes a big company to admit their mistakes though they lost me a bit with the last quote.  I'd prefer they say that they lost their way but they are back on track and leave out all the conspiracy stuff.  Golfers want good products and don't mind good marketing just don't insult our intelligence.

I disagree. TaylorMade's line of clubs last years was very muddled. They erred when they didn't realize what they had with the original SLDR, the JetSpeed was a poor follow-up to the RocketBallz, and the SLDR-S didn't do a very good job of distinguishing itself from either the SLDR or the RocketBallz. Their pricing structure didn't make much sense, and everything was grey and blue (literally). I don't think he's being conspiratorial; if anything he's saying they caused the confusion.

[newtogolf]

I disagree. TaylorMade's line of clubs last years was very muddled. They erred when they didn't realize what they had with the original SLDR, the JetSpeed was a poor follow-up to the RocketBallz, and the SLDR-S didn't do a very good job of distinguishing itself from either the SLDR or the RocketBallz. Their pricing structure didn't make much sense, and everything was grey and blue (literally).

I don't think he's being conspiratorial; if anything he's saying they caused the confusion.

He said a lot of people who are on blog sites are their competitors and those are the ones that are angry, the real "golfers" on blog sites aren't angry just confused.

[Spitfisher]

I disagree. TaylorMade's line of clubs last years was very muddled. They erred when they didn't realize what they had with the original SLDR, the JetSpeed was a poor follow-up to the RocketBallz, and the SLDR-S didn't do a very good job of distinguishing itself from either the SLDR or the RocketBallz. Their pricing structure didn't make much sense, and everything was grey and blue (literally).

I don't think he's being conspiratorial; if anything he's saying they caused the confusion.

Despite the $100 greater price, they found out very late that the sldr, was selling 6 - 8 to 1 over the jetspeed, given the economic landscape they were expecting the jet speed to sell in greater numbers. so they pulled the plug on the jetspeed. The sldrS was originally planned to be priced between the two, but with out the jetspeed it fell into a weird price point of 329 and yet  5 grams of weight heavier and an adjustable hosell was the only other difference.

at the same time there was still quite  previous years TM available.

[mvmac]

I disagree. TaylorMade's line of clubs last years was very muddled. They erred when they didn't realize what they had with the original SLDR, the JetSpeed was a poor follow-up to the RocketBallz, and the SLDR-S didn't do a very good job of distinguishing itself from either the SLDR or the RocketBallz. Their pricing structure didn't make much sense, and everything was grey and blue (literally).

Well said.

[mvmac]

More from Sharpe,

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2014/11/14/taylor-made-ceo-weve-taken-a-responsibility-start-to-make-su.html

Quote:

On changing the inventory level issues at places like Dick's.

That process has really started and it started before I took the seat in June. We were over-inventoried and it’s not just a Taylor Made issue, I think it’s a golf issue.  So one of the things we haven’t done through the course of this year is launch another product and put inventory on top of inventory. And we’ve taken a responsibility start to make sure we flush this product through. And we’re going to continue to do that for the balance of this year so when the new products that we have showcased this week come to market they’re doing it with the inventory in a lot better place than it was in 2014.

[newtogolf]

More from Sharpe,

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2014/11/14/taylor-made-ceo-weve-taken-a-responsibility-start-to-make-su.html

More good insight, I wonder how much Dick's Sporting Goods decision to fire their PGA pro's and reduce their investment in golf impacted TM's decisions on inventory and new models.

[Spitfisher]

More good insight, I wonder how much Dick's Sporting Goods decision to fire their PGA pro's and reduce their investment in golf impacted TM's decisions on inventory and new models.

I think it was the other way around.......