For all of their abilities to make "accurate" speakers, Magico has had some serious marketing gaffes in the last few years. The biggest gaffe I am aware of is when Magico released the all-aluminum q5 just a handful of months after releasing the m5, which was proclaimed as the greatest speaker of all time by TAS. The best Magico dealers and their best customers jumped on board of the $90K M5 speaker, only to get a bucket of ice water thrown at them with the Q5 announcement. And the dealer-partners are still trying to get rid of their demos. As I write this, there are 3 M5's listed on Audiogon. The m5's can be had for under $40k, with many of the dealer partners taking big hits, especially when the new all time great Q5 can be had new for $60K.
Whereas the q5/m5 debacle showed that Magico could give a hoot about their best customers and dealers who stuck their necks out for them, the latest marketing mistake is an example of Magico's lack of understanding of basic, decades-old marketing strategies. Magico has a print ad in TAS for the new Q1 speaker. The ad shows the picture of the speaker with the famous Schopenhauer quote: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." This ad reminds me of a college student in a drunken stupor getting a tattoo containing Chinese characters - only to understand what they mean the next day.
Magico has been called the speaker with the most fidelity to the recording. Jonathan Valin has said so in all his Magico reviews, Michael Fremer pretty much confirmed this, and the likes of top dealers like Overture Audio has Magico in their reference room for this same reason. In marketing terms, it can be said that Magico has successfully captured the consumer mind-share as the "accurate" speaker in the market place filled with many uber-expensive speakers that don't have a clear marketing/ sonic identity and thus confuse the heck out the of the customers. Any other brand will have a hard time taking this "accurate" positioning away from Magico, especially since they have Jonathan Valin "working for them" as an unofficial marketing rep earning free Q5 demo speakers by reminding TAS readers any chance he gets that "Magico is the best, highest fidelity, most truthful to the recording speaker he has heard".
Wolf &Co., however, do not seem to get their position in the market. I hate to burst their bubble, but not everyone is interested in the most truthful reproduction of the recording. Instead, some of us want to hear a concert in our homes. We want to suspend disbelief and pretend we are hearing the show, not focus on the details or the artifacts of the recording and mastering processing which are dull and distracting.
So the Schopenhauer quote is kind of like BMW forgetting they are the positioned as the "Ultimate Driving Machine" and simultaneously going after Volvo's safety-interested customers and Mercedes luxury-interested customers. But the reality is that just like those primarily interested in luxury will not choose a BMW over a Mercedes, those not interested in hearing the last detail on the recording will not get a magico.
Successful marketing strategy entails understanding who you are, understanding what your customers want, and then aiming at them like a laser beam. Magico, however, doesn't seem to get this. As they say, nothing fails like success.
Whereas the q5/m5 debacle showed that Magico could give a hoot about their best customers and dealers who stuck their necks out for them, the latest marketing mistake is an example of Magico's lack of understanding of basic, decades-old marketing strategies. Magico has a print ad in TAS for the new Q1 speaker. The ad shows the picture of the speaker with the famous Schopenhauer quote: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." This ad reminds me of a college student in a drunken stupor getting a tattoo containing Chinese characters - only to understand what they mean the next day.
Magico has been called the speaker with the most fidelity to the recording. Jonathan Valin has said so in all his Magico reviews, Michael Fremer pretty much confirmed this, and the likes of top dealers like Overture Audio has Magico in their reference room for this same reason. In marketing terms, it can be said that Magico has successfully captured the consumer mind-share as the "accurate" speaker in the market place filled with many uber-expensive speakers that don't have a clear marketing/ sonic identity and thus confuse the heck out the of the customers. Any other brand will have a hard time taking this "accurate" positioning away from Magico, especially since they have Jonathan Valin "working for them" as an unofficial marketing rep earning free Q5 demo speakers by reminding TAS readers any chance he gets that "Magico is the best, highest fidelity, most truthful to the recording speaker he has heard".
Wolf &Co., however, do not seem to get their position in the market. I hate to burst their bubble, but not everyone is interested in the most truthful reproduction of the recording. Instead, some of us want to hear a concert in our homes. We want to suspend disbelief and pretend we are hearing the show, not focus on the details or the artifacts of the recording and mastering processing which are dull and distracting.
So the Schopenhauer quote is kind of like BMW forgetting they are the positioned as the "Ultimate Driving Machine" and simultaneously going after Volvo's safety-interested customers and Mercedes luxury-interested customers. But the reality is that just like those primarily interested in luxury will not choose a BMW over a Mercedes, those not interested in hearing the last detail on the recording will not get a magico.
Successful marketing strategy entails understanding who you are, understanding what your customers want, and then aiming at them like a laser beam. Magico, however, doesn't seem to get this. As they say, nothing fails like success.