Bridgestone's image

[furu]

I read GolfSpy Barbajo's post on the new J15 wedges. This part of the press release got my attention.

 

"Bridgestone Golf, the #1 ball-fitter in golf and a recognized industry innovator"

 

Is it a desperate way to market the company? #1 ball-fitter? First of all - that must be completely impossible to measure. And why on earth should it matter to anyone? 

 

I also question the importance of recognition as innovator. Has anyone ever said anything like that about Bridgestone? And again - how can this matter for customers?

 

Is Bridgestone another one of those companies without a face? No identity?

 

The #1 driver.

Longest fairwaywood in golf.

#1 ball.

The softest tourball.

 

That's marketing talk that works. Sad, but true. 

 

[hckymeyer]

It's a claim that is probably safe from a legal standpoint.  Plus it sounds better than "We're pretty good at everything but not the best at anything"

 

My question back, is Bridgestone bigger overseas than in the US?  They've been making some pretty good looking, and from what I've read, well performing clubs for a while now.  But they don't have much of a presence in the US market. 

[GolfSpy Barbajo]

It's a claim that is probably safe from a legal standpoint.  Plus it sounds better than "We're pretty good at everything but not the best at anything"

 

My question back, is Bridgestone bigger overseas than in the US?  They've been making some pretty good looking, and from what I've read, well performing clubs for a while now.  But they don't have much of a presence in the US market. 

Great line!

 

Don't know for sure, but I believe they have a greater presence in the Asian market. When I was at Fairway Golf in SD the owner showed me a driver made by Bridgestone specifically for the Asian market. 

 

As for #1 ball-fitter in golf, yeah - who's going to argue that?  Not because it may or may not be true, but as Furu says, does it really matter?  

 

Either way, the stuff of theirs that I've tried has been very good...but does it lack the "sizzle" of other brands?

[Hula Rock]

Don't know about you'all but they can claim the best looking wedge of 2015.......

[markb]

It may just be me, but I get the impression that they don't want to try very hard with clubs in the US.   Balls, sure, but clubs no.   You watch the Golf Channel and they advertise the crap out of their TIRES but you'll never see a club ad.

 

Too bad, their irons are very pretty, very well made and very conservative.   They have the corporate deep pockets to do it if they wanted to.   Maybe they also have wise heads telling them to choose their battles and to choose not to fight this one at this time.

[mr_divots]

A while ago, ball fitting was supposed to be the new equipment frontier. Bstone launched their campaign to do more ball fittings. Maybe just by virtue of them counting the fittings, they became the #1 ball fitter. I have to think over the years Titleist has probably fit more people into a ball, but never had the campaign to go with it.

 

Bridgestone has restrained product cycles and quality gear. I'm more apt to let their marketing slogan slide than some "yards gained" tagline from another.

[westy]

I think many of us would like bridgestone to take it seriously, market their clubs well and get them out and available to demo.

 

I doubt anyone who try's them is dissapointed

 

And Furu (wise man that he is) is right, that's some rubbish marketing speak from a company that has enough money to do better.

[ACcustomX]

Bridgestone equipment seems hard to come by at most shops (at least in my neck of the woods). I have never come across a single club on or off the course. The one and only time I saw a Bridgestone club in a shop was at a Christmas party thrown by a local brick and mortar here in Rochester. It was a TD-01 True Balance Putter. A rep. had brought with him and donated into a Chinese raffle as part of the party. And........ Not one single person dropped a ticket into the box for the thing! Except this guy! It's a beautiful putter (yellow grip, meh, easily fixed with a SS 3.0, and IMHO, a big improvement to the feel and playability of the club). From what it looks like to me this year is that all their clubs look like they mean business, no frills, just work! I'm sure if they got the stuff out there it would find it's way into a lot more bags. I'd give it a try!   

[xxio]

My personal take is that Bridgestone suffers from having a Japanese lineage.

 

Previously Bridgestone had Tourstage as a premium line in Japan, in Japanese culture they would naturally want to have the superior brother stay local (see Japanese cars). So even though Brdigestone was now available overseas the underlying tone was the Bridgestone line had to still be not as successful as to overshadow Tourstage. The marketing and distribution budgets for Bridgestone were always limited.

 

We'll see how that changes now that it is only Bridgestone all over the world,albeit with a few different models staying Japan/Asia only.

[silver & black]

This might just be the Cabinetmaker in me, but.... I like and appreciate the simple elegance of their irons. I love simple lines that work and appeal to the eye. I suppose it's why I like and play Mizuno stuff.

[furu]

Bridgestone has big balls in Europe sells a lot of golf balls in Europe. Especially in southern Europe. Fairly sure that around 0.01% buys them after a fitting I've said what I think about that.

 

Clubs? Haven't seen them anywhere. Sweden. Denmark. England. Scotland. France. Spain. Portugal. Never seen a Bridgestone club in the shops. The company that has distribution rights for Norway has decided not to sell them here. No point. 

 

The Asian influence can possibly make it hard to take business decisions based on the different markets. Not sure how they work. 

 

I'm going to Portugal soon to do club testing with a Swedish and Danish magazine. Combined probably around 400.000+ readers. No Bridgestone clubs. Nothing. All other major brands are in. 

 

We should have a topic on stupid one-liners. Like Callaways "This golf ball is even more noticeably better than anything we've ever made". Even more noticeably. Just to make sure that everyone understands that every ball they've released has been better than the previous on but this one is the noticeabliest betterest. I'm getting stupidier by reading that stuff. 

 

By the way - pretty good deals on J40 irons on ebay for the past weeks. 

[Blade]

I'm sure their online ball fitting tool, which I've seen in shops also, has racked up some impressive numbers and that's where they got that line from. But like furu said, most people may plug in their numbers out of curiosity to find out what it says. That doesn't translate to them buying the recommended ball though.

[wbealsd]

When most golfers hear Bridgestone, they think tires and maybe golf balls.  

 

Most golfers I know don't even know they make clubs, since they seldom see them in the local outlets.  I've seen one set on display in my area.

[mr_divots]

In talking with their American marketing partner over the years, there was a time that Bstone was really on the fence a few years ago if they'd continue in this market. You saw the ball fitting campaign pop up about that time as they re-focused on golf ball sales. It appears they finally made a commitment to stay in this market with the new lineup, and I expect the American division out of Carlsbad was responsible for the designs given the investment they made to set up shop in California.

 

My contact also said Japanese companies are often very cautious and do no like risk, so their money spent in America has been fairly restrained given the backing of their global tire biz. More incrementalism than big splashes.