Penn cleans house

[fishweewee]

What are the most important segments to address?

1) Freshwater bass guys?

2) NE saltwater surf fishermen?

3) Boat fishermen?

Who thinks #2 is the least important here volume-wise? Are we the pimple on the arse of an Elephant?

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by fishweewee

Are we the pimple on the arse of an Elephant?

At a svelt 250+ lbs. I prefer to think of myself as a Boil.


But you are right, on that list freshwater Bass guys top the list of importance in the eyes of the manufacturers, and we, sadly, are #3

I'm sure Penn has some marketing research data on this. I wonder if BK would like to share it w/ us.

[JohnR]

We are probably number 7 as you can likely scare up a couple more market segments. However, we ARE the segment where Penn cut its teeth and we ARE the segment that launched saltwater fishing's popularity as our forefathers were the ones of Saltwater Sportsman and the tourneys and the make of Penn in a way...

[fishweewee]

Originally Posted by JohnR

We are probably number 7 as you can likely scare up a couple more market segments. However, we ARE the segment where Penn cut its teeth and we ARE the segment that launched saltwater fishing's popularity as our forefathers were the ones of Saltwater Sportsman and the tourneys and the make of Penn in a way...

I think we are becoming increasingly irrelevant as a viable segment.

Anyone who wants to sell to us will be a specialty niche manufacturer or a smaller product line in a company with a large fishing portfolio.

Anyhoo, w/r/t to Penn ... I'll say again.

Production cost: Work in process?
Positioning: In the middle between value and high-end (excl. Int'l line)
Innovation:
Marketing : What marketing?

[*LB]

I think it's good that Penn has a new marketing guy that shows some interest in what the customer thinks, but it's going to take a lot more than that to turn the Penn ship around. Knowledgeable fishermen have been complaining about the same problems for years . . . and a lot of it was very fixable stuff. Unfortunately, Penn did nothing to address the problems and comes off as a company too stupid to get out of its own way. I've been surprised they've retained as much loyalty as they have - that's a real tribute to the patriotic sensibilities of fishermen.

I swore the 5500SS was the last Penn reel I'd ever buy, what a piece of junk! I ended up buying a 560 Slammer and I've been mostly satisfied with it - not a perfect reel, but I think it's a pretty good value compared to other reels in the same price range. Without the Slammer series Penn's surfcasting presence would be limited to greenie parts on E-Bay by now. I hope Penn can turn it around, and I think a lot of other fisherman feel the same way. But if they don't, there won't be many Penn loyalists left to attend the funeral.

[Karl F]

Penn is not going to be made in USA anymore.... so... therfore, the girls in the ads have to take off the flag bikini's

John... FWW---> both correct, we are probably a low priority as a group, but like John said, how did they get to where they got... bring back the US made coffee grinders, but update them... and for a low priority segment, we sure do get worked up over high end stuff, liike the VS, and Saltiga offerings, so target us something mid range-high range, with the aforementioned specs.

[ThrowingTimber]

You're doing a good thing stepping up, we're a pretty tough crowd

But if you guys could follow through or even proto some of Mike p's suggestions as well as the others on the board that'd be excellent. I mean FFS you're PENN! EVERYONE has seen, touched, used a squidder, everyone has owned a 704/706 at one point, they're the workhorses('course we tweak 'em) but they're the workhorse. You have an audience, bounce ideas man! Best of luck... oh yeah I like my 7500's just fine ffs you got guys who designed bridges in school, Im quite sure you can get one of those cad monkeys to design an effective sealed drag...