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2015/05/11 12:57:09
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
For what it's worth, I was in Bath yesterday and noticed that their one has been turned into a black 'Warhammer' store too.
Not very well - it seems like a pretty quick and shoddy job with the new sign being SLIGHTLY too large for the space it's in, but it certainly seems to be rolling out...
IIRC Bath was one of the handful of stores selected as part of the pilot program, so it may not be indicative of any rollout just yet.
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. - Frank Howard Clark
The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” Professor Brian Cox
You'll note the Facebook pages for various stores have started to change as well.
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2015/05/11 13:09:37
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Because they're distancing themselves from being Games Workshop and now they have an excuse for only focussing on the two (ish) core games.
Frankly I'm surprised they didn't go all out and just call themselves '40K'
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. - Frank Howard Clark
The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” Professor Brian Cox
Alpharius wrote: I'm curious as to why GW thinks that this is a good move?
WARHAMMER (black and white sign) storefronts end up looking like seedy nightclubs.
I guess it'd be for an image change? Warhammer has a more positive image in the public (in general not just wargaming) eye, where as Games Workshop is associated with people that sue small authors.
Alternatively, profits are falling, we have no clue why, let's throw gak at the wall.
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100%
2015/05/11 13:19:39
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Alpharius wrote: I'm curious as to why GW thinks that this is a good move?
WARHAMMER (black and white sign) storefronts end up looking like seedy nightclubs.
Because they really can't call themselves "Games" Workshop anymore, right? I mean, they've effectively killed off every other revenue stream except for 40K so it's either rebrand as "Game Workshop" or do something else.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2015/05/11 13:22:23
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Alternatively, profits are falling, we have no clue why, let's throw gak at the wall.
This. We proudly proclaim that we do no market research and our Chairman of the Board has often stated that we don't care what people want with highly placed corporate managers even stating in court that the entire hobby is the purchase of whatever shiny we've decided to bless you all with.
GW, reduced to zoo-level, monkeys flinging poo levels of corporate governance.
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2015/05/11 13:33:22
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Alpharius wrote: I still would've gone with GAME WORKSHOP vs. WARHAMMER which appears to be a game they won't ever really me making/supporting anymore.
Still, as Azreal13 said, they should have just gone with 40,000 or something similar...
I agree completely. Or catered to the goth crowd and called the stores "Grim Dark." Rebranding an established company by completely changing the name of the store-fronts doesn't seem to be a great idea...
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2015/05/11 14:17:24
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Well if they were a company that did a lot of (any?) advertising i'd agree,
but since their store fronts are pretty much all they do people who go in anyway will still go in
(maybe looking puzzled the first time they do, but the Warhammer name has enough connection to bridge that)
and they did apparently (shock horror) do some research and found that Warhammer had a higher brand recognition than Games Workshop so they might just get a few more walk in customers (possibly?)... 40K has name recognition within the community, but parents of kids and other present buyers are going to think of it as Warhammer : 40 000
(and if they roll out relatively slowly they can just rename stores as the open/reopen with the amount of churn they have with the one man opperations)
2015/05/11 14:36:17
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
I think a problem with GW's sustainability is lack of diversity in their product. They were at their best when offering variety. This rebranding seems to be cementing the approach to only their two core games and nothing else.
2015/05/11 14:43:54
Subject: Re:GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
It's kind of bizarre. In the States, no one outside of the hobby (and maybe video games) knows the Games Workshop brand. But at least the name is indicative of something. "Warhammer" is so vague that people won't have a clue what's inside. Again, it just seems to me that GW doesn't know how to market itself outside of UK. But I've also never understood their need for a retail store operation in the US, either.
You know what would be covenient? If there were FRIENDLY and helpful people that ran LOCAL retail outlets. Then they could sell your GAMES in their STORES all over the country without the need for costly overhead. But what on earth would we call these ROGUE TRADERS?
This is just baffling to me. I personally do not see any benefit to this 're-branding', if anything it's more confusing.
Independent games stores and even the GW hobby centers are what's called 'destination stores'. Meaning the people who patron the store have specific intent on going there - they know what's sold there, it's specific to their interests. Destination stores rarely generate revenue from random foot traffic.
At least with a name/sign of Games Workshop you can lure in interested consumers, even if they may not know about Warhammer. Sure they may assume it has something to do with video games or board games, but it's generating foot traffic - and maybe someone that walks in unknowing will be wowed and buy something.
Changing the name to "Warhammer" will target only those people who know what products are sold there and those people are likely patron the store regardless.
SOoo... In an era of declining sales they're in a sense choosing to turn away random foot traffic. Way to shoot yourself in the foot GW. BRAVO!
Alpharius wrote: I'm curious as to why GW thinks that this is a good move?
WARHAMMER (black and white sign) storefronts end up looking like seedy nightclubs.
Because they really can't call themselves "Games" Workshop anymore, right? I mean, they've effectively killed off every other revenue stream except for 40K so it's either rebrand as "Game Workshop" or do something else.
Yeah, they tried GAME Workshop but it didn't test well.
(this is a fib of course, GW never test markets anything)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/11 15:03:21
2015/05/11 15:15:27
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
Alpharius wrote: WARHAMMER (black and white sign) storefronts end up looking like seedy nightclubs.
WARHAMMER on an average Saturday night.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/05/11 15:16:24
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agnosto wrote:Rebranding an established company by completely changing the name of the store-fronts doesn't seem to be a great idea...
Especially if, apart from some nebulous connection with some obscure little self-publish book, and as Oni says, it doesn't really seem to change anything. A cowpat by any other name would still smell like gak.
the_Armyman wrote:It's kind of bizarre. In the States, no one outside of the hobby (and maybe video games) knows the Games Workshop brand. But at least the name is indicative of something. "Warhammer" is so vague that people won't have a clue what's inside. Again, it just seems to me that GW doesn't know how to market itself outside of UK.
I'm gonna say that a lot of people in the UK will have the same problem. Granted, here in Northern Ireland there's a grand total of one store, but I'll bet that if you stood around within a half-mile radius of it and asked passers-by the significance of rebranding Games Workshop to Warhammer, the most common response would be "No, I don't have any spare change..."
Well, the all caps signage also helps me understand the CAESTSUS ASSAULT RAM and other products being in all caps as well...
Six mistakes mankind keeps making century after century: Believing that personal gain is made by crushing others; Worrying about things that cannot be changed or corrected; Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it; Refusing to set aside trivial preferences; Neglecting development and refinement of the mind; Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do
2015/05/11 17:02:15
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/11 17:16:21
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't. - Frank Howard Clark
The wise man doubts often, and changes his mind; the fool is obstinate, and doubts not; he knows all things but his own ignorance.
The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” Professor Brian Cox
It's possible that the GW brand is so tainted that WH is better but how GW would know that when they don't do any market research is a mystery.
Another idea is that this is the new CEO's way of showing investors that he is a dynamic leader with lots of good ideas and a finger on the pulse of modern marketing.
My last idea is that the new logo is simply a lot cheaper to install. It looks a boring cheap bit of crap that anyone could design in 30 seconds using MS Word.Type out Warhammer in caps. Highlight it, change to a sans serif font and make it white on black. Send to the printers. Job done.
Put me down as one of those people that, all the way back in 1997 wandered into Games Workshop looking for a computer game and came out with an awareness that miniature wargaming was a thing. Cue thousands of pounds and 16 years later was when I stopped buying GW.
2015/05/11 17:58:01
Subject: GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
The name change doesn't surprise me at all. Really 'Games Workshop' had become something of an ironic reminder of what the company once was.
Although, I don't think they care about such things or what people think about them, so it might have some other real purpose? Helping to package up the brand before a takeover perhaps?
Fireball wrote: I will be in London for the first time over the weekend ... I might stumble over the new store ... lets see
Go in to Dark Sphere, it's at least 147 times better.. (maybe even 200)
I feel like people have heard of Warhammer. Certainly if I'm discussing it with lay people I call it Warhammer rather than "The Games Workshop Hobby" or "Warhammer 40,000 and other adventures". People have heard of Games Workshop too, though.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/05/11 18:21:06
Dead account, no takesy-backsies
2015/05/11 19:12:43
Subject: Re:GW's new London Store. Page#2 rebrand news.
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