Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
getting stale. Remember The Pump? How about the "shock absorbing"
air filled clear plastic tubes in the heels? Then they went with the
"puffy paint" thing - in Day-Glo colors. Some genius came up with "hide
the laces" and sales went up. It's all marketing - but aimed at the
14-24 crowd. At least AirWalk did things that made sense - if you
were a skater - padding for protection, reiforcement in high wear
areas etc..
Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
younger crowd? Digital display - on a flexible stalk - on a SCMS?
What I'd like to see is a servo-driven angles setting SCMS. Give it
the two angles you want - on a digital touch pad - and let it set up
the saw - maybe with an "I'm ready when you are." digitized voice to
let you now when it's ready to cut wood. AND as long as there's
a digital voice - how about adding "Are you sure these angles are
right?" if you've transposed a number. Then there could be infra
red or sonic sensors that would monitor "danger areas", sense
that some part of your body is in a place where it might get injured
- or amputated, and yell "Are you out of your F**KING MIND? Get
your damn (hand, finger, arm, leg, neck) out of the $###^&*@!
WAY - DUMMY!" after locking out the on/off trick to the OFF position.
Come on marketing boys - some useful innovations please.
charlie b
charlie b wrote:
> Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
> tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
> BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
> getting stale.
I believe you're right about Nike.
To me, the new Hitachis look like what you would get if NASCAR designed
a shoe, then Dr. Seuss mounted a blade on it.
I said it in an earlier post and I think it bears repeating: You bring
one of those new Hitachis to a jobsite and you risk the entire crew
beating the shit out of you.
LRod wrote:
> On 10 Jul 2006 17:36:47 -0700, "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >
> >charlie b wrote:
> >...
> >Re subject line--my personal opinion is they can't make a tool that can
> >compete straight up so they've gone to gimmicks.
>
...
> Now, having said all that, and in the what-have-you-done-lately
> category, if Hitachi has made some decisions (target market, for
> example) that means they've had to cut costs dramatically to reach a
> price point, then it may very well be that they can no longer make a
> tool that can compete straight up. In that case, your point is well
> taken, but let's not treat Hitachi as if they've always built for the
> bottom feeders.
...
I thought it apparent the comment/assessment was apropos to the
introduced line...
cb,
Thanks for the laugh and for all your serious posts.
cm
"charlie b" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
> tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
> BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
> getting stale. Remember The Pump? How about the "shock absorbing"
> air filled clear plastic tubes in the heels? Then they went with the
> "puffy paint" thing - in Day-Glo colors. Some genius came up with "hide
> the laces" and sales went up. It's all marketing - but aimed at the
> 14-24 crowd. At least AirWalk did things that made sense - if you
> were a skater - padding for protection, reiforcement in high wear
> areas etc..
>
> Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
> younger crowd? Digital display - on a flexible stalk - on a SCMS?
>
> What I'd like to see is a servo-driven angles setting SCMS. Give it
> the two angles you want - on a digital touch pad - and let it set up
> the saw - maybe with an "I'm ready when you are." digitized voice to
> let you now when it's ready to cut wood. AND as long as there's
> a digital voice - how about adding "Are you sure these angles are
> right?" if you've transposed a number. Then there could be infra
> red or sonic sensors that would monitor "danger areas", sense
> that some part of your body is in a place where it might get injured
> - or amputated, and yell "Are you out of your F**KING MIND? Get
> your damn (hand, finger, arm, leg, neck) out of the $###^&*@!
> WAY - DUMMY!" after locking out the on/off trick to the OFF position.
> Come on marketing boys - some useful innovations please.
>
> charlie b
"charlie b" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
> tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
> BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
> getting stale. Remember The Pump? How about the "shock absorbing"
> air filled clear plastic tubes in the heels? Then they went with the
> "puffy paint" thing - in Day-Glo colors. Some genius came up with "hide
> the laces" and sales went up. It's all marketing - but aimed at the
> 14-24 crowd. At least AirWalk did things that made sense - if you
> were a skater - padding for protection, reiforcement in high wear
> areas etc..
>
> Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
> younger crowd? Digital display - on a flexible stalk - on a SCMS?
>
Younger and or those attracted to flash.
"charlie b" wrote...
> Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
> younger crowd?
Seems like an odd move, considering how fond woodworkers are of old
fashioned tools. I'm sure they did test marketing though. I'd guess the
casual user market is more lucrative than the professional user market, and
as has been pointed out, Hitachi has made some top-notch stuff, but still
has to compete with PC, Milwaukee, Makita, Ryobi, and B&D DeWalt.
> What I'd like to see is a servo-driven angles setting SCMS.
Sounds like a job for Martin. >8^)
--
Timothy Juvenal
www.tjwoodworking.com
"Greg D." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> I think Hitachi's weird design is the result of a stupid bet between
> Hitachi's principals who have too much time in their hands. Maybe one
> or them said:
Obviously just some lame attempt at making their tools stand out enough to
get an increased market share. Supposedly, in advertising all attention is
good. I'd be real interested to see the market ratings of these neon tools
comparing new user purchases to experienced user purchases.
I think Hitachi's weird design is the result of a stupid bet between
Hitachi's principals who have too much time in their hands. Maybe one
or them said:
"I bet you we can make power tools that look like Nike shoes and there
will still be a bunch of suckers to buy them anyway just because
Hitachi is printed on them."
Greg D.
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:34:03 -0700, charlie b <[email protected]>
wrote:
>Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
>tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
>BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
>getting stale. Remember The Pump? How about the "shock absorbing"
>air filled clear plastic tubes in the heels? Then they went with the
>"puffy paint" thing - in Day-Glo colors. Some genius came up with "hide
>the laces" and sales went up. It's all marketing - but aimed at the
>14-24 crowd. At least AirWalk did things that made sense - if you
>were a skater - padding for protection, reiforcement in high wear
>areas etc..
>
>Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
>younger crowd? Digital display - on a flexible stalk - on a SCMS?
>
>What I'd like to see is a servo-driven angles setting SCMS. Give it
>the two angles you want - on a digital touch pad - and let it set up
>the saw - maybe with an "I'm ready when you are." digitized voice to
>let you now when it's ready to cut wood. AND as long as there's
>a digital voice - how about adding "Are you sure these angles are
>right?" if you've transposed a number. Then there could be infra
>red or sonic sensors that would monitor "danger areas", sense
>that some part of your body is in a place where it might get injured
>- or amputated, and yell "Are you out of your F**KING MIND? Get
>your damn (hand, finger, arm, leg, neck) out of the $###^&*@!
>WAY - DUMMY!" after locking out the on/off trick to the OFF position.
>Come on marketing boys - some useful innovations please.
>
>charlie b
On 10 Jul 2006 17:36:47 -0700, "dpb" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>charlie b wrote:
>...
>Re subject line--my personal opinion is they can't make a tool that can
>compete straight up so they've gone to gimmicks.
I think you need to break it down a little more than that. For
example, historically, Hitachi has been right at the top of the heap
among professionals in the framing nailer field, and also had the #1
SCMS with the C8FS (I think it was). In fact, it wasn't until the
proliferation of the 12" saws that the 8" Hitachi began to be
overtaken.
I also felt the M12V plunge router was the best value in large
plungers, as do a whole lot of other people. Do a poll here and see
how many M12Vs show up.
Now, having said all that, and in the what-have-you-done-lately
category, if Hitachi has made some decisions (target market, for
example) that means they've had to cut costs dramatically to reach a
price point, then it may very well be that they can no longer make a
tool that can compete straight up. In that case, your point is well
taken, but let's not treat Hitachi as if they've always built for the
bottom feeders.
--
LRod
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
http://www.woodbutcher.net
Proud participant of rec.woodworking since February, 1997
email addy de-spam-ified due to 1,000 spams per month.
If you can't figure out how to use it, I probably wouldn't
care to correspond with you anyway.
If I was wearing Nike shoes with skates I'd buy a Hitachi Circular Saw while
skating. Real cool!
And what has this to do with woodworking?
"charlie b" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Though someone referred to Hitachi power tools' new look/style as
> tennis shoe/ Adida, I think Nike is the one who started the gimmicky
> BASKETBALL shoe thing as their Air Jordan marketing campaign started
> getting stale. Remember The Pump? How about the "shock absorbing"
> air filled clear plastic tubes in the heels? Then they went with the
> "puffy paint" thing - in Day-Glo colors. Some genius came up with "hide
> the laces" and sales went up. It's all marketing - but aimed at the
> 14-24 crowd. At least AirWalk did things that made sense - if you
> were a skater - padding for protection, reiforcement in high wear
> areas etc..
>
> Is Hitchi seeing a potential market and aiming their campaign at a
> younger crowd? Digital display - on a flexible stalk - on a SCMS?
>
> What I'd like to see is a servo-driven angles setting SCMS. Give it
> the two angles you want - on a digital touch pad - and let it set up
> the saw - maybe with an "I'm ready when you are." digitized voice to
> let you now when it's ready to cut wood. AND as long as there's
> a digital voice - how about adding "Are you sure these angles are
> right?" if you've transposed a number. Then there could be infra
> red or sonic sensors that would monitor "danger areas", sense
> that some part of your body is in a place where it might get injured
> - or amputated, and yell "Are you out of your F**KING MIND? Get
> your damn (hand, finger, arm, leg, neck) out of the $###^&*@!
> WAY - DUMMY!" after locking out the on/off trick to the OFF position.
> Come on marketing boys - some useful innovations please.
>
> charlie b