Aeppel Too Good for Lowes and Home Depot - Aeppel Too Good...

Aeppel, Too Good for Lowe’s and Home Depot, WSJ, July, 2006.
“Too Good for Lowe’s & Home Depot”
By Timothy Aeppel
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Virginia Beach, Va. -- WHY WOULD a manufacturer run ads telling potential customers where
its products aren't sold? For Stihl Inc., it's about image.
The German-owned maker of chain saws and other hand-held yard tools believes emphasizing
that it doesn't sell through mass merchants such as Lowe's and Home Depot reinforces its aura of
exclusivity. Stihl's bright-orange machines can be purchased only through independent dealers.
"Sometimes telling someone where you're not available is more effective than telling where you
are," says Kenneth Waldron, the company's marketing manager.
Stihl's ads, which have run over the past year in national newspapers, feature pictures of various
tools and always start with a question, such as: "What makes this handheld blower too powerful
to be sold at Lowe's or The Home Depot?"
The answer, in smaller print in that particular ad, is that Stihl has the "power" of 8,000 dealers,
who supply advice and service not available at the big stores. Closely held Stihl, the U.S.