By Jill Dyché
In which Jill considers whether insufficient customer intelligence left a once-renowned brand shattered in pieces.
Venerable English china and crystal company Waterford Wedgewood declared bankruptcy earlier this month. This evoked a bit of sentiment among those of us who remember our mothers' or our grandmothers'—the company was founded in 1759—fancy Wedgewood tableware. Labeled by millions of households as "the good china," the company is now bankrupt.
The company's founder, Josiah Wedgewood, made much ado of the fact that the Queen herself used his china, milking the term "Potter to Her Majesty" for everything it was worth. This was long before affinity marketing or luxury goods were de rigueur. Now a web search on Wedgewood delivers information about factory outlets and replacement pieces as it does about the luxury brand.
What happened? An established brand can never grow complacent. It must constantly innovate and address new markets. Wedgewood gave this a half-hearted shot. According to Judith Flanders in The New York Times, the company tried changing its design without updating its traditional molds. Not only didn't the public adopt these new semi-designs, they weren’t marketed well. Waterford Wedgewood’s attempts at innovation clashed with its traditional and often-staid image.
What should Waterford Wedgewood have done? For one, it should have delayed enlisting hot designers until it could segment its market. Brides-to-be want something in tableware that's very different from first-time parents or birthday gift buyers. An inability to profile your constituencies is a sure way to over-invest in risky development or marketing gambles that don't pay off. The company could have done a much better job understanding customer behaviors and purchase preferences, segmenting those customers, and then retaining those customers with targeted design and brand messaging.
In the end, it was the spray-and-pray model of marketing writ large on a company whose entrenched image belied its need to understand its buyers and its potential buyers better. According to The Times, Waterford Wedgewood is now offering bargain-basement prices and outlet-type stores that squarely confront its legacy. It might be time to pick up some new dishes.
