Golf Magazine: Cobra Golf Brand Survey

For whatever it’s worth, Cobra is (for me anyway) one of the most intriguing brands in all of golf. Granted, I’m a guy who loves color – and I know that some of you don’t. I’m also a guy who happens to love performance (and I don’t know many of you who don’t), and while they haven’t always fared well in our head to head tests, with just a little bit of tuning Cobra’s products have proven to be some of the most exceptional I’ve ever had in my bag.

Hell, I spent most of last year with a Cobra driver and irons in my bag. In early fall I added their wedges. And then it snowed and I’ve spent that last several months being miserable, but I digress.

For all the crap you guys give me about being a TaylorMade guy, those who know me best would probably tell you I’m a Cobra-PUMA guy at heart, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why more of you aren’t giving the brand a chance.

Of course, if the moves Cobra has made in the last year – things like bringing in Tom Olsavsky from TaylorMade to head their R&D team, and the rollout of a state of the art new fitting system (that’s selling the capabilities short) – pan out the way I think they will, the future of Cobra could be an exciting one.

You won’t be able to ignore them. My 2 cents…Cobra is one of two brands I think has the most potential for growth in the coming years.

That said, my record at predicting the future is spotty at best, and our survey wasn’t about what the future holds, it’s about what’s happening right here and now.

To that end, here’s what you think about Cobra Golf.

If you’re Cobra you probably want to be known more for performance than marketing, but both the innovation and performance numbers are solid. From top to bottom this chart really isn’t that different than what we’ve seen in our surveys of other companies. Thus far only Titleist is shown to have created the perception that Quality and Performance are the greatest differentiators. What’s perhaps more telling is the responses from the Other field.

Far and away Color (in one form or another) was the most popular response. Some suggested they like the bold colors. Others…umm…not so much. What it tells us is that, for now anyway, Cobra is inextricably linked with the same colors they feature on the their clubs.

Cobra is color. Color is Cobra.

When Cobra was acquired by PUMA the introduction of color into the lineup was a simple (and effective) way to differentiate themselves from the rest of the industry, while infusing part of the PUMA identity into the Cobra lineup. To achieve wider acceptance (growth) in the market, they’re probably going to need to come back to the middle a bit, and with the reintroduction of black into the lineup, and refinements to PUMA’s golf offerings, we’re starting to see just that.

To a large extent, the responses to this question mirror what you guys wrote in the Other field. The top responses are all image-related. It suggests you see Cobra as a colorful, trendy company that targets a younger demographic. Yeah…I am Captain Obvious.

The good news is that shows that Cobra has emerged from Titleist’s shadow and firmly established its own identity. The bad news is that it’s a somewhat exclusionary identity. We know that there is a segment of golfers who won’t consider products because of the color. We also know that part of that same segment doesn’t believe Cobra is serious about performance.

In that lies the challenge for Cobra Golf. How do you maintain the identity you’ve built while getting your performance message out to the masses?

Performance needs to be at the top of this chart, and while I believe that internally at Cobra it is, convincing the consumer of that is no easy task.

Just over 53% of you reported that you don’t have a single Cobra club in the bag.

Why the hell not?

While the driver number is solid (somebody is playing Cobra drivers), it’s really the fairway (16.02%), hybrid (18.23%), and iron (18.23%) numbers that stand out. The origins of Cobra trace back to the fairway wood. Actually, the original Baffler was more of a hybrid, but whatever you want to call it, the legacy remains strong.

The irons are almost a curiosity. We’re talking about a company that offers a competitive product for every type of golfer, and more often than not, they do it for less money than any other serious player in golf. What’s the issue here?

As for the wedges…don’t get me started. The new(ish) Tour Trusty is probably the single most underappreciated product on store shelves right now. You owe it to yourself to at least try it.

This particular question seems to always yield similar results. You definitely want to be seen as improving significantly, and that’s apparently how most of you see Cobra.

Here’s my follow-up question: why? What about Cobra has improved your perception of the brand.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very much inclined to agree with you. What I see in terms of corporate structure, the people they’ve brought in, and the things they’re doing with products and services is exceptional, but most of that stuff hasn’t yet trickled down to the consumer.

There is tremendous potential with the brand, but I’m not convinced the last 3 years reflect that. Keep an eye on the next 3.

63.66% of you said Cobra targets a wide-range of golfers. That next biggest chunk (54.41%) is for Invests Heavily in Marketing. You guys always think it’s about the marketing. You guys might be right.

The good news is that between 25%-30% of you said that 1)Product engineering is superior 2)Products are manufactured to tight tolerances and 3)Cobra invests heavily in research and development.

All of the negatives (products are mass-produced and cheaply made, does not respect the game, does not care about custom fitting, etc.) registered fairly low as well.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Everybody in golf cares about what other companies are doing. All of them. No exceptions.

That said, Cobra is certainly more willing to step out of the box than most, and I probably wouldn’t classify them as either a leader or a follower. They definitely march to their own drummer, the challenge is getting all of you to dance along.

We already know that Cobra doesn’t make golf balls or putters. The former is a notorious money pit, while the latter Cobra insists they’ll only tackle if and when they have something of actual consequence to contribute. Basically they’re not going to make a putter just to have a putter.

While nothing really stands out, I suppose there is good news to be gleaned from the perception that some of you (55.44%) think that Cobra’s Metalwoods (drivers, fairways, and hybrids) are slightly better to far superior. It’s also encouraging that 33.26% of you think the same about the irons.

I can’t say this enough…you guys are missing the boat on the new wedges. More than 25% of you believe that Cobra’s wedges are slightly or significantly worse than its competitors. That’s insane. The original Trusty Rusty, with its game-improvement slant, wasn’t for everyone. And perhaps Cobra made a mistake by bringing it back for the sake of nostalgia (and for the sake of being able to offer something in the wedge category), but the new Tour Trusty…it’s totally different, and totally deserving of another look.

With most companies, the average range (at, or above) is always going to dominate the responses. No surprises here.

Where I think several of you missed the boat is in the value category. Cobra consistently offers products (especially irons) and prices that are often $100-$200 less expensive than others in their class. Look no further than AMP Cell Pro Irons. The going rate for a forged muscleback from Titleist, Mizuno, and others is $999. Cobra offers you an iron that’s comparable in every respect for $799.

We’re not talking Wal-Mart here, we’re talking about a top quality product at a better price. Isn’t that what everyone says they want?

You guys more or less nailed it here. You’re not going to see any overnight game-changers, but Cobra is a company that’s taking steps to become more of a force in the industry. There’s absolutely no guarantee it’s going to work. I can’t promise you that in 3 years Cobra won’t be worse off than they are today, but I believe they’ve had some exceptional products over the last couple of years, and they’re certainly going to make every reasonable effort to build on those.

Cobra will never be TaylorMade, but it’s not content to be where it is right now either.

Move along…probably not much to see here. Basically we’ve found that golfers who follow golf companies are 50%-60% likely to follow any particular brand.

Among those who do follow golf companies, but don’t follow Cobra, the Not a Fan number (33.33%) is perhaps a little on the low side. The more interesting info comes from the Other box where responses were things like:

“Marketing is annoying to me”

“Can’t follow everyone”

“I don’t think they market to people like me”

“Only follow companies whose equipment is in my bag”

The companies who excel at Social Media are generally the ones who execute a specific plan, and are most active on Social Media. Generally speaking, Cobra is more engaged than many other golf companies, but there’s is a lack of consistency (periods of absence or limited activity), and they don’t always give the impression there’s a cohesive Social Media plan beyond “let’s tweet something”.

While I’m still not certain on the direct impact to the bottom line (see the next question), I do believe that Social Media can have a direct bearing on our perceptions of a company, and while that might not translate directly to sales, it can certainly work against sales.

Maybe I’m alone here, but Social Media efforts rarely improve my perception of any given brand, but poor Social Media, or Social Media that rubs me the wrong way has most certainly negatively impacted the way I view certain brands.

Invisible is better than bad. Fortunately for Cobra, not many of you see their efforts as negatively impacting perceptions.

For just about every brand we’ve surveyed this result has been largely constant. 60% of you report that Social Media has had no impact on your buying decision. It raises two questions for which I don’t have solid answers.

Is it possible you’re being influenced without realizing it?

Is the 10% or so of the audience that tells us that Social Media has positively influenced the buying decision a big enough number to justify the efforts?