News & Press Releases

Cut Through the Crunch

Generally speaking, we at World of Power try to avoid commenting on the advertising campaigns of the brands we supply. But something interesting happened this week that made us think, and we thought we should share it with you; Stihl put full page advertisements in USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. They’ve never done that before. Interesting…

Why is this interesting? Well, if you know Stihl, you know that they manufacture professional handheld powertools; they’re famous for the quality of their chainsaws. Not for the quality of their stock portfolio. So why are they advertising in major financial newspapers and magazines? A full page advertisement in either of these editions will set a company back many hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you wouldn’t necessarily think that the white-collar professionals who read the financials would be Stihl’s primary target audience. What’s going on here?

We think that Stihl is appealing to these white collars not to buy their stocks, but to buy their chainsaws. October is about to make the transition into November, and it’s this time of year when a chainsaw becomes more valuable than any other tool. The leaves are being shed from the trees, the air is fresher and cooler, and Stihl believes that it’s about time the businessmen removed their cufflinks and Breitling watches, rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in.

Essentially, what Stihl’s advert is saying is that with the economy wavering, with the entire edifice of capitalism teetering on the verge of collapse, and with consumer spending beginning to fall away just as we enter the most important time of the year for industry, why not just get back to basics? To hell with the credit crunch. Buy a quality chainsaw this winter and set about your back garden like you’ve been promising to do for months. Trim the trees back. Destroy something beautiful. Try your hand at chainsaw sculpture. It’s a stressful time for investors, and very everyone else too, but the satisfying power of a Stihl chainsaw offers a sense of release like nothing else. Have you ever notices how content tree surgeons seem?

That’s what Stihl’s advert says. It’s a simple ad, and you can find it here. To put it in context, most full page colour ads in The Wall Street Journal are eye-grabbing, colourful, over-edited affairs that have been overthought and try to be too clever. Stihl’s advert is different. It’s simple. It just makes a point to mention that its customers have confidence in the brand, and there’s an uncomplicated image of a Stihl chainsaw in the middle. The advert encourages the reader to ‘invest’ in a chainsaw; not to ‘buy’ one. A Stihl chainsaw is a commitment, an investment, not an expenditure. It’s a very strong advert, and we thought we’d just point it out. Nice work Stihl!