Brands that succeed despite being shite...

richardhomer

richh said:

Ernie Ball... noticed Mr Homer slagging these off a couple of days ago on another thread.  I thought these were roughly on a par with D'addario and the like, unless they've gone downhill.  @richardhomer I think you may have come off your medication, as you seem to have developed a vendetta against them - along with Lazy J who I also am a user of...

I've never owned - or indeed played though -  a Lazy J. I have no view on the product whatsoever - all I've ever said is I'm amazed (given their 'holy grail' status) how many get sold on. 

If EBs work for you - then please don't let my experience put you off - it's a free country (currently).

Equally, allow me the freedom to state my experience which is EBs sound dead pretty much straight away to me - without suggesting I must be mad....

richh

No problem, and I was only kidding, except for the Ernie Ball thing, I honestly thought they were right up there with other brands.  I'll have to do some comparisons.  In fact I've been using D'addarios for a while, but for no particular reason.

Danny1969

crunchman said:

Danny1969 said:

Fretwired said:

Microsoft's Office brand. Truly awful software that is complicated to use.

Agreed ... how the hell did they persuade millions of people they couldn't write a letter without spending £60 a year on office 

They didn't.

In the early days products like Lotus were copy protected when Office wasn't.  They got the whole world hooked on it and then started copy protecting it and making people pay through the nose.

Yeah but even the basic Microsoft Write included in Windows 1.0 has more features than people used to write real letters ... then Wordpad included from Windows 95 onward's expanded on that and was included completely free. 
I spose I see the average guy claiming he needs MS Office to write the monthly Bowling club news letter a bit like someone claiming they need Protools HDX to do their podcast audio

exocet

Reverend said:

richardhomer said:

Ernie Ball....

Does anyone else do a set of 11-54 though? I can't seem to find any alternative.

Curt Mangan? The story goes that he used to work for Ernie Ball......I tried a set once, they were very much like Ernie Balls to me.

bbill335

Fender strings
Electro harmonix - innovation and gimmickry over quality and usability

NelsonP

Gassage said:

Hellemans Mayo is the worst one for me. Every time I go to France I go and get a supply of Delouis Fils.

Hellemans is like dog smegma.

Just think. Somewhere in Hoxton an exec from a social media monitoring agency is trying to figure out how to communicate this back to their client at Unilever......

I'll add Karrimor to the list.

guitars4you

Coldplay

vale

http://legalresearch.blogs.bris.ac.uk/files/2016/06/John-Whittingdale.jpg

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/139/590x/secondary/Boris-571120.jpg

menamestom

Hotpoint.  

scrumhalf

I would differentiate between things with a name on them and "brands", the marketing push of something which is generally overpriced and underperforming in terms of what you get for the amount paid.

Anything that has "brand ambassadors" is shite by simple dint of having a "brand ambassador". The more you have to spend to tell people how good your product is, the more shite it is.

Oh, and aftershaves. Not that long ago they cost lest than an average weekly wage.

thecolourbox

Gassage said:

Audi.

Why any sane person would buy a £40k exec car with front wheel drive beggars belief.

Having watched a few other branded cars with rear wheel drives several times in the snow and laughed, I'd suggest that might count in their favour?

My suggestions would be:

Apple - for all reasons stated above
Topman - for being an overpriced primark, but more full of themselves
TM Lewin - for not being as nice as Charles Tyrwhitt, with their baggy arms, snobby staff, and horribly symbolic shelf-upon-shelf layout that represents the identikit nature of the kind of walking stereotypes that wear their shirt
John Lewis - bit controversial because I've heard a lot of people cooing over their customer services. But the two I've been in (Solihull and Birmingham New Street) are two of the most grotesquely twee shop fit-outs I've ever seen in my life, full of smarmy staff and even more smug shoppers, selling that god awful middle-class style consumerist tosh that so many places seem to be insisting on these days. Urgh
London Midland trains - just get the Cross City line or the Stourbidge line in Birmingham for a week and you'll know what I mean. Small niggling annoyances that are the equivalent of being repeatedly prodded in the arm by a 6 year old.

Motorhate

Gibson

Harley Davidson

Apple

Budweiser

Fosters

Carling

Carlsberg

exocet

Dyson? Lost touch with theme recently but certainly in the 1st 10 years of producing the bagless cleaner, the local tip was overflowing with broken ones. Likewise, when I first saw their hand dryer, I thought "where does the water go - that's not going to work". Sure enough, 12 months later plenty of rusting examples. Shame really, innovative company but lacks a certain something. 

holnrew

ITT: Snobbery, both traditional and inverted

Winny_Pooh

crunchman said:

Brand Beckham
MacDonalds
Nescafe
Jamie Oliver
Various London restaurant chains.  Bill's is probably the worst.

You're possibly spoilt living in Surrey, Bill's is great. And I've been to the Guildford and Reigate branches. 

Some of these have been mentioned.
Bose - designed by car enthusiasts
Beats
Just about all fast food
Nero/Starbucks
M&S clothes - baggy and ugly
Nestle - evil fucks with shit chocolate
Cadburys - comes in all flavours of cheap and sugary
Gourmet Burger Kitchen, went downhill 6 years ago almost, still surviving.
HP computers, something always conks out with these.
Chimi Changas 
French cars - everyone I've heard of has hated theirs.
Behringer
Nike
Wilkinson razors

Philly_Q

Winny_Pooh said:

Gourmet Burger Kitchen, went downhill 6 years ago almost, still surviving.

I like GBK, although I haven't forgiven them for taking Captain Cod off the menu.  And god knows what's in their satay sauce, it sure as hell doesn't taste anything like peanuts.

mudslide73

B&O

Mick

Stevepage said:

Hayter. Their lawnmowers are terrible for reliability.

Seen the new ones yet.?

Philly_Q

Not so much a brand as a product:

Fray Bentos Steak & Kidney Pies.  The ones in tins.

I was always fascinated by them but never actually tried one until a few years ago.  What the fuck?  A shallow metal dish of soggy offally mush.  They are vile.  I can't imagine how anyone could actually like them.

professorben

exocet said:

Dyson? Lost touch with theme recently but certainly in the 1st 10 years of producing the bagless cleaner, the local tip was overflowing with broken ones. Likewise, when I first saw their hand dryer, I thought "where does the water go - that's not going to work". Sure enough, 12 months later plenty of rusting examples. Shame really, innovative company but lacks a certain something. 

Ohhhhhhh it's a HAND dryer......

that explains the odd looks.