I am angry. ANGRY.
When I see a GREAT idea, a great looking product that is well made, and it is RUINED by the marketing department and its branding.....I become DISTRAUGHT.
The firearms industry is still in its infancy vis-a-vis the explosion of women interested in firearms over the past 3 years. Women's only shooting groups such as the one I belong to, The Well Armed Woman, and many others have formed across the country since 2012 trying to meet this growing demand. Our group alone has more than 5,000 members nationwide. That is a HUGE marketing opportunity ripe for new products. The firearms and related industries are taking notice and trying to keep up. Not an easy challenge. Throwing out pink guns to us does NOT meet our very complicated desires or needs.
More importantly, we assume that when a new company, or any company, creates something specifically for us to use to conceal carry our firearm - women who shoot and carry firearms for self defense - that you understand the whole point of conceal carrying a gun.
FEMININE PROTECTION - yes, really, that's the name they picked - makes beautiful conceal carry clutches. Beautiful USELESS conceal carry clutches. I am still shaking my head at this phenomenal failure. In my head I can envision the go-no go flowchart reviewed during the product conceptual planning phases and all the missed opportunities to fix 3 VERY serious mistakes of this product. Not only am I angry at them for allowing all these mistakes to continue to the sales floor, I am SAD FOR THEM. Sad at all the money they spent preparing the product and failing to fix these enormous flaws, safety flaws!
Mistake #1 - need I point out the obvious? the name
Mistake #2 - it's a clutch, for conceal carrying a gun, how hard is that to get out of my hands with my gun in it?
Mistake #3 - putting the DUMBEST name for a female product ever created on the OUTSIDE of a purse intended to be a concealed carry purse. Now, for the sake of those of you reading this who do not shoot or own guns, let me explain. The WHOLE POINT of conceal carrying a gun is CONCEALING the fact that we are carrying a gun. The whole point of branding is....making your product well known. The intersection of these 2 goals created a dilemma for this particular product for which this company FAILED MISERABLY at resolving.
How does a conceal carry purse maker successfully brand a product intended to conceal something?
NOT THIS WAY!!!!
Once this "Feminine Protection" brand becomes known, the company themselves have STOLEN the whole point of their product from the consumer. They have "outted" the fact that she is conceal carrying a firearm. Safety first. You just took away my safety with your product.
Now to be fair and kind do I like ANYTHING about this product?
Product design and color and fabric options? LOVE
THE LOGO? LOVE LOVE LOVE, a little revolver they made into a flower. GENIUS. LOVE. Well done.
MY CONCLUSION - this product is UNSAFE for its intended purposes. In its current design I will NOT recommend it to any of the my female students or members.
Lose the name on the outside of the product, put it ONLY INSIDE on a label inside the bag. Add chains, DURABLE chains or straps as options to the bag so that it can't be easily grabbed from my hands.
KEEP THE FLOWER LOGO and use ONLY that for branding this product.
And...don't ever let the marketing person who permitted this enormous catastrophe to proceed anywhere within range of me.
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