In a strange coincidence regarding my last post, Smith and Hawken is closing its doors for good. I remember greedily pouring through the catalogue, and have many top-notch tools from them. Unfortunately, what was a beautiful store and purveyor of high-quality gardening tools and unusual plants has steadily slid downhill into just another gardening tchotkes store. The original founders sold the company in 1993, and opened several retail locations, capitalizing on the love of its catalog operation. But, without founder Paul Hawken’s purple prose and keen eye for tools that real gardeners could really use, the company wandered into territory selling things that its core, loyal customers were not interested in, in the least.
A Name is just a Name
As the companies I discussed in the greenwashing blog have come to understand, unless the actions of the business jive with the front the business puts up, the disconnect will eventually be discovered, and can take down the company. That’s basically what happen with Smith and Hawken after the Scott’s company bought it in 2004. An ever-growing, ever-developed concious awareness, internet-savvy public clues in, generally before the final papers have been signed on a sale, to anything that looks like what Smith and Hawken had become: a thin veneer of greenness over a decidedly destructive business practice. Because the original audience had been completely alienated, the owners of Smith and Hawken had to try to build a new one. Unfortunately, 2005-2009 has not been a good time to do that because a perfect storm of factors.
Let the Demise of Smith and Hawken be a Lesson
You can buy a company, and you can buy a name, but you can very quickly wreck everything you think you are aquiring. A name is only useful, a brand is only made of what lies beneath the marketing materials and the fancy graphics. You can’t buy your way into greatness. Ask the Middle-Eastern Sheiks who have tried to buy their way into the Kentucky Derby for years, now, only to watch their multi-million dollar colts falter at the challenge of obscure, in-expensive yearlings with good training.