"As far as we can see, they're the only outdoor brand on the list, though the likes of Nike, Adidas and Timberland, with their more general recognition, are all listed." Is this not where Berghaus have been going for a while...
"One factor behind the brand's wider recognition may be the striking cinema campaign late last year - Berghaus's first ever - which featured Leo Houlding slacklining and which showed before the new Bond film." More likely as a result of all the Chavs/Neds responses to the "consumer survey" ;-)
"Just one question remains to be answered - is it better to be a Coolbrand, like The North Face, or a Superbrand, like Berghaus?"
The survey result is quite strange and national perceptions (i.e. the fact that the survey appears to be wholly UK-focused) must surely skew things? 15 years ago the two biggest "pure" outdoor brands in the UK were Karrimor and Berghaus, then Karrimor imploded and The North Face stepped in, gaining in profile in both serious outdoor and "street" sectors in the last decade.
Despite apparently having lower awareness according to the respondents of this survey (seemingly just UK according to the focus of the Superbrands site link), TNF must surely have wider sales and GLOBAL presence, being a significant US and European brand; on the other hand, they have only had an elevated presence in the UK market in the last 10 years.
The results need to be taken with a pinch of salt: a national brand that has been well established in its home country for 20-30 years is, in the majority of cases, going to have a higher level of awareness than new entry brand from an external country with less than half the exposure time!
It would certainly be interesting to know of significant Berghaus sales/brand presence in countries outside UK. I seem to recall recently reading that their export territories are mainly Scandinavia, Austria and Germany. Not too surprising considering their Germanic sounds name, but not really global.
In the spare afternoon I had last summer in Zermatt (Switzerland) perusing all the 20 or so outdoor stores I didn't see any Berghaus, but I saw TNF. The strongest high end national outdoor brand in Switzerland is Mammut, which has some moderate availability and presence outside its own country (core market). Just like Berghaus? I will be in the Dolomites this summer and will keep an eager eye open for both Berghaus and TNF presence - in previous visits to Italy I have seen TNF but never Berghaus.
I'm not a particular fan of either brand, although like most people, seem to end up with quite a lot of both in my kit bag as between them they take the lion's share of stock, and hence choice, in UK shops.
An interesting article, but needs to be taken in context as may well be a classic case of a big fish in a small pond.
Without the advertising campaign do you not think they would have made it into the super brands list then? Generally speaking if you asked someone on the street what do you think they would say?
I just asked a couple of colleagues to name the first few outdoor companies that come to mind. One said Gelert First, and no others Another instantly said Berghaus, and timberland Another said Berghaus, TNF and helly Hansen Another Berghaus again and Helly Hansen Another Berghaus again Another Berghaus and karrimor
Interesting really. I was never familiar with Berghaus until relatively recently. Everyone else seems to think of them first though. If someone asked me I would have actually said Rab, as I notice every one seems to have a rab duvet jacket. TNF seems quite popular too, and then Helly Hansen, but that’s more sea wear so don’t know if it’s relevant.
One of them said 'oh, but isn’t Berghaus Scallywear, that’s what they all say in Scotland'. Which I found pretty funny.
I think of Berghaus being over marketed and expensive, though a college says they make nice stuff. I have lost faith in TNF since reading some tent specification calling a 28k 8 man tent lightweight! 3kg each, I think not. Karrimor seem good, but like someone says, they seem to have vanished a bit. There aren’t really any other good quality and well known brands. I'm sure if you were to ask the people on this site, most would come up with MHW, ME, Rab, Haglofs, Berghaus etc.. Doubt TNF would come up as a highly regarded company to be honest. And I certainly don't see the attraction to Berghaus. Someone should set up a poll regarding it.
I think Berghaus do do some good stuff, but also some very ordinary gear — bit like most companies, really, including TNF. The latter's Hedgehog shoes, for example, are excellent, but some of their waterproofs are terrible — complicated and unsuitable for British conditions, especially the hoods. As far as Berghaus being expensive, so is most outdoor gear. You just have to wait for the sales, look online or haggle in the shop.
What the "superbrands" press release doesn't mention is that you are invited to be on the "superbrands" list by the panel of "superbrands" judges but then in order to be accepted on the list you need to pay "superbrands" a chunk of money to be included in the "superbrands" book and other media promotion. This explains why smaller specialist companies aren't represented in the list £xx,xxx is alot of money to pay for what in my view is essentially a vanity parade.
How do I know all this? Superbrands invited Osprey to join the list about 2 years ago.
Actually, the Superbrands process has changed a bit during the last couple of years. Being named a Superbrand is not dependent on money changing hands. Berghaus was selected following a procedure that involved some consumer research by YouGov and other independent organisations (though I don't have the detail of that so can't vouch for the entire process).
It's true that they had to pay to feature in the book and other media activity, but the title of Superbrand was given regardless and Berghaus could still use the logo and promote the award even if they hadn't bought into the book. Hope that helps to clarify.
I can only comment on what happened with Osprey. We had been invited to join the list but when we didn't want to pay £xx,xxx to feature in the superbrands book and other media PR the interest from superbrands quickly drained away. At the end of the day superbrands is a PR business - they don't do it for free.
Rob - of course you're absolutely right, Superbrands is a business and they do what they do to make money (and Berghaus has contributed to that by getting involved in the book etc). However, I think that the approach and selection process has changed in the last couple of years so that there is more emphasis on consumer research identifying the brands (so, for example, it's no great surprise that Berghaus was highlighetd after the cinema campaign).
As I stated, once selected, the brands can use the Superbrand title/logo without provisos, regardless of whether they do anything else. In short, from Berghaus' perspective, they won an award and were very happy to accept it and market it too - simple as that.
Not sure Berghaus should flaunt their Superbrand status on this site; as a marketing ploy it's not likely to play well with a savvy outdoors community, who are generally suspicious and cynical of such things; I refer readers to the above posts and the previous forum on the highly anticipated Berghaus Chav Range. The only thing that concerns me about this is market dominance reducing choice for those of us who really need good gear of this type - I shop less and less at Tiso because they seem to stock bugger all apart from TNF and Berghaus.
I liked the good old days. Karrimor and Berghaus slugging it out over the years to see who could make the best rucksack and win over the hearts and minds of the British mountaineer.
It's rubbish now, marketing, product, consumers, clothe the dog walkers of the nation, blah blah blah.
A bit of a rose tinted view there I know, if either company had been really successful we would have still have them as Berghaus and Karrimor, not Pentland and Lonsdale. So, support your independants before they are hoovered up.
I think much depends upon your personal definition of "superbrand" - I agree with PTC that a superbrand doesn't need to be the biggest, or the best known on the high street. I think that the selection process makes many assumptions on what most people think - when actually it is likely to be a small minority. Especially if you start to survey in regard to niche pursuits (like outdoor) most people on the street would only be able to name 1 or maybe at a stretch 2 companies that make outdoor gear (most likely in the UK one of those is Berghaus) - but that doesn't mean mass market surveys relate directly to the core user group in a niche market. As I think PTC and Nige explain quite well - to the core user Superbrands it's more likely a switch off than a switch on, but for the mainstream non-core person it's probably a positive PR signal that says "hey it's OK to like this brand, it's super, go buy some today" or words to that effect?
Completely agree Rob. We cynics here are put off, but like many of you have said the majority of the population will think this is great! And Berghaus will concentrate more on the more affordable trendy side of things because there will be a greater market for this now they’re really famous! This will be the demise of Berghaus as we know it. Ah well, I only have a paid of their trousers and don’t rate them that highly anyway. No loss there.
Agree Smeg, but at what point do the "real" outdoor stores stop giving them shelf space, and start sourcing elsewhere? I spoke to a store ex-employee who said that he left because his company strategy had shifted to attract - as ptc puts it - the dog walkers of the nation. I can understand that as a corporate strategy - they are there to make money - but the risk is that gear that meets our needs is squeezed out by the Superstores and Superbrands. You'd have great difficulty in finding any Rab stuff other than down jackets in Scottish outdoor stores; expect even them to disappear when the new Berghaus dayglo versions with i-pod pocket appear.
