ISSUE #06

Okay so I said I wasn't going to send an email this week. However I came across a youtube video that illustrates what I was talking about last week from a bit of a different angle. Below is a link to the video with some comments.

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Why Guitar Players Don't Play Yamaha.

Last week a guitar player and Youtuber Rhett Shull put out this video that asked why you don't see electric guitar players playing Yamaha guitars much. I know, this is another guitar themed post - please forgive me. But please give the video a watch (it's 11 min but you can start around the 2:30 minute mark)

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He brings out a Revstar guitar that Yamaha sent him to demo and he starts discussing the build quality, the design, and the pricing. It's a great guitar for the $799 USD price point. It's well-made, with good styling and great features — but it's overlooked by guitar players, and Rhett wonders why. He says, "I think it's because I don't think of Yamaha and electric guitars. I really think this comes down to branding and marketing thing, as weird as that may sound".

He goes on to say, "I think there's an uphill battle with the Revstar name, and the brand that keeps these guitars out of the hands of players, which is a shame".

Shull's assessment — and I agree — is that Yamaha simply doesn't get guitar players. Shull says, "When I think about the history of Yamaha guitars, I think about some of the more corny... 80s jazz fusion stuff... it doesn't feel cool". He says there's a Yamaha-ness to it.

Shull compares the Yamaha Revstar brand to D'Angelico - where he says D'Angelico has done a better job of "marketing" - they've got the style they've got the flash, they know how to do instagram". It illustrates his point when he says, "for example, why'd they call this colour 'Hot Merlot' - that's a terrible name".

He goes on to say, "I think Yamaha makes a really really good guitar, that people don't want to play because they don't think of Yamaha as making a really great guitar - they haven't done a good job of getting this Revstar out there and showing people what it is".

Here's where I disagree. I don't think it's the marketing or trying to convince customers on the quality.

In the comments numerous viewers point out that Yamaha has spent a lot on the marketing of the guitars by sending out hundreds of guitars to influencers and demo-ers (demo-ists?) like Shull. It's likely not the marketing department's fault. I am sure that Yamaha has a good marketing budget behind this product.

As a company, Yamaha has built it's name on engineering great products, from pianos, to ATVs, to jet skis etc. but superior products lose out to worse products all the time for a number of reasons.

In this case I really think the problem is a poorly executed brand.

With their electric guitars, Yamaha is simply not connecting with the culture, style, and tastes of guitar players. For whatever reason, they don't have a product offering or devised an approach that resonates with electric players.

Solving this brand problem won't be fixed by increasing the advertising budget or investing more in features or quality. If the company is serious about getting more guitars into the hands of more players, Yamaha needs to sort out the "Yamaha-ness" problem, and invest there first.

If you find yourself in a similar boat - you need to sort out your Yamaha-ness first too. The push to win customers over is so much harder when you don't.