Weber Grills

I recently took a class on leveraging industrial design in marketing. Throughout the course, I was responsible for analyzing several brands and their product line-ups...basically discussing what design cues the brand was leveraging to help convey the brand image. One of the brands I investigated was Weber. In doing so, I discovered they have an important cue they are not leveraging - their iconic kettle grill design.

So...What Is A Weber?

On its website, Weber invites its customer to “barbeque with a legend.” The iconic kettle design of the brand’s charcoal grills have been satisfying consumers for generations. Since 1951, the kettle’s reputation for durability, quality cooking, and simplicity has given it a cult-like following amongst serious grillers.

After moving into gas grills and specialty products, like smokers, outdoor fireplaces, and portable grills, Weber claims to have the “right barbeque for the job,” offering professional-style grills to fit every need and budget. It relies on having easy to assemble designs and claims even its portable models are able to deliver flavor like their larger grill models. Besides fitting every budget, Weber’s grills are very accessible. They are available at major home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowe’s), online, and major retailers like Sears, Wal-mart, etc.

What Is Weber Actually Communicating To Customers?

Weber’s charcoal grills have the most distinctive style out of all of its product offerings. The apple-shaped kettle grill is iconic and for years has been the primary image associated with the Weber name. Its round curves, clean lines and polished enamel tones, speak of simplicity, friendliness, and honesty. The sturdy metal shell and plain, but strong, tripod legs make it sturdy and confident. This is a grill on which a customer will not hesitate to cook an entire chicken or enough hamburgers for a neighborhood gathering. Weber relies on the recognition of their charcoal grill design. As proof, the brand uses the kettle as logo, design accent, and primary cooking surface at the Weber grill restaurants.

Although the kettle design is distinctive, in looking at Weber’s overall product line-up, there’s a hodgepodge of design cues. It makes me wonder...what does Weber think it's communicating to its customer? Unfortunately, when Weber decided to go into propane grills and specialty markets, they lost almost all of the elements the iconic kettle. It is strange Weber decided to do this since the charcoal grills supposedly have superior cooking characteristics in part due to their round shape.

In the propane market, Weber seems to be following the lead of other grill makers and thus, its grills get lost in the crowd. Here, Weber does try to differentiate itself from other products other than sometimes offering grill “top hats” in muted, primary tones like blue and red instead of the typical black, gray or stainless steel. Customers visiting stores or viewing products online will have a hard time differentiating between a Weber and any other gas grill (Charbroil, Kenmore, etc.) since the grill possesses the same flat, double doors, slightly slanted lid, and squared off sides and back. The HMI is typically the same as all other grills with knobs to turn up/down the heat and a handle to open the grill lid. To a Weber enthusiast the Weber gas designs don’t meet brand expectations. They are simply boring. They don’t say “Weber.” By looking like everyone else, customers surely have to wonder if the grill truly is just like every other brand. What's special about it?

Looking at the rest of Weber’s product line-up, there are only a few hints back to the iconic kettle design. The smoker has some round characteristics, but is not much different than other smokers on the market. The outdoor fireplace is a squatty, tripod-like product that has much more angular lines than the round icon, making it appear a little less friendly. One of Weber’s latest “specialty” product offerings, however, does lend a nod to the kettle. This product is the “Q,” a cute, hermit crab-like, portable grill. Although taking on some round qualities characteristic of a Weber, it’s still missing some of the puffed roundness of the original design, making it comes across as more modern and perhaps less tough/ masculine.

So...What Should Weber Do To Change?
Weber’s propane grill design is positioned the furthest away from the icon associated with the brand’s name – the kettle. Right now, the propane grill looks like a copy-cat. It doesn’t stand out from other grill designs and is a watered down shape that probably no one loves and no one hates. It is unemotional. My suggestion is for Weber to redesign the top hat of their propane grill to reflect back on the brand’s history and reputation for superior cooking.

Brand = Critical

Yes, "marketeers," you believe you have a crystal-clear definition of your brand. After all, you went through the process to define your target customer and even created a brand “bullseye” to illustrate your brand’s promise. In fact, because of this, you know your brand wants to be friendly, accessible, and affordable. It should appeal to 18-25 year-old, early-adopters, who are still living at home but might attend college. You have a definition...yes, it's a good start. But...there's a catch. What is your brand actually communicating to customers? What does your product design -or- distribution strategy -or- price point -or- packaging -or advertising campaign make your customers think? And are you using consistent enough cues across your product line-up? Can customers look at a product and instantly know it belongs to your brand? Do you even know what people think you stand for?

So why is your brand image important? I would argue that the image your brand conveys is the reason your company is selling products (or not) and why you even exist in the market place. Your brand image is what customers base their assumptions about your products upon. And if you aren't consistent in your message or your message is a little “off,” customers will get confused, and chances are they won't be loyal. Why should you be concerned? In the current marketplace, there are so many options out there, unless you lack competition in your category, it's pretty easy for the customer to just walk away. And for companies, one customer walking can have significant impact. Why? In this age of internet research and social networking, we are very willing to share our opinions. Customers are more likely than ever to write about negative customer service experiences or product issues, write product reviews, share information about product modifications that they’ve done, take photos of products and upload them to websites, etc. If we do something wrong, a lot of people are going to find out about it. Market research and understanding our customers and what they want should be easy these days. We don't have to seek out customers; instead, they seek out us. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. I mean, let's be honest...there's a lot of junk out there on retailer shelves. I guess this just proves that most companies still have a lot to learn.

We are all customers. But being in business, we often tend to forget about things. We discount our opinions about our own products, because we are too close to them -and- know too much about how they work. We tend to say “Well, I am a product expert. Most of our customers won’t care about this.” We still don't get it. Many of us are stuck in an age where cost means the most and we don't seem to think customers will pay for a better experience -or- for a better product. We know what the customers want, better than they do, don't we? (Do we actually listen to ourselves when we say that? We sound like idiots!). We're stuck in a mindset of fear. Fear of the costs associated to taking risks. Yet we don't seem to notice that due to our risk-adverse nature, our products get watered down - and - so do our brands.

So why did I decide to start a marketing blog called “Brand Critical?” While working on my MBA at Ross, I found I really enjoyed deep-diving companies and their products, especially investigating areas within the marketing realm. I liked assessing what companies were doing wrong (and right) and making recommendations for change. Finishing up my degree, I knew I wouldn’t have class projects to work on any longer...so that's where "Brand Critical" comes into play.