It's a deep-seated original
"what do you think will disappear in 10 years?" many years ago, the bbc asked microsoft ceo satya nadra to answer. And the answer he gave was a pen。
Nadera's words, when writing has been replaced by office automation software, paperless offices have become a trend, and pens have really been “disappeared” from people's daily work and lives. In the united kingdom, a random 2,000-person survey showed that one third of the respondents had not written anything by hand in the past six months. On average, they have not written in the past 41 days。
In the pen industry, there is a consensus that “practicality” is no longer useful and that high-end luxury possession of the gift market is the way to survive. As early as the late 1980s, montblanc decided to cut down low- and medium-priced products, focusing on high-value products, diamond mosaics, microcarvings, paints... Making pens into luxury. The other one, who made himself a social currency, found its way to survival between the top and the public。
Lamy, a german brand founded in 1930 and currently managed by the third generation of the family, is one of the largest steel pen manufacturers in europe, with 15,600 outlets in over 80 countries, including about 200 brand stores. Initially, it built a reputation within the writing enthusiast community, based on excellent products, and later infiltrated the public through such means as ceremonial boxes, joint names, etc. The “safarir” series, the “star al-star” series and the “lamy 2000” series are classic star products。
However, centuries of accumulation could not survive the tide of times, and lamy had recently reached the crossroads of “selling up”. The mitsubishi lead and brush club of japan announced that it would buy all of lamy's shares, which would become a subsidiary of mitsubishi. Also known as the 100-year branded mitsubishi pencils for the production of pencils, cylindrical pens, marker pens and automatic pencils, mitsubishi pencils will be retained and invested in the lamy headquarters and production facilities in heidelberg, germany. In response to this collaboration, the lamy spokesperson stated that the sales company was “seeking a strong partner to further develop this area of digital writing and expand international sales”。
Looking back at lamy's history, i can't take a breath. Both the product itself and brand marketing strategies, such as rejuvenation and marketing, can be useful. But in the sunset industry, much has gone beyond its own efforts. According to the newspaper linc, which was published in mitsubishi pencils in the course of this transaction, there has been a marked decline in the performance over the past three years. In 2021-2023, the sale of ling mei fell from €8. 5. 1 million to €76. 8 million, and the net profit from consolidation fell from €9. 1 million to €3. 7 million。
This is another tear of the time。
Entrepreneurship: good products
There's a black phrase in the pen: "lonbirds have rhino." it refers to the five major brands of montblanc, pec, sheaffer, waterman weddivine. Lamy naturally cannot be compared to these old nobility pens, although it has a higher brand position in china, but it is indeed germany, where lamy is a common commodity in supermarket shelves。
In the strict sense of the word, lamy is actually pike — the founder of the company, joseph lindme, was a pike pen-player. In 1920 or so, joseph entered the pike pen job in wisconsin and worked as an export manager; in 1928, joseph was sent back to germany for the company’s career in germany。
In early 1930, joseph decided to develop independently and left pike, and established a company called orthos fuilhalterabrik c. I. Lamy to produce pens and pencils under the brand name “orthos”. At that time, the company had only one employee other than joseph。
Pike’s work experience has influenced joseph’s style and aesthetics, while pike’s influence has extended to the whole german pen industry, resulting in many similarities between orthos’ early production of a pen style and pike’s “tofud duofold.” it was only in 1933 that orthos escaped the influence of pike, obtained the first pen and pencil patents and opened its expansion under the east wind of sustained economic growth in the 1930s. During world war ii, the company produced over 200,000 “others orthos” pens and “artus artus” pens per year。
In 1948 orthos officially changed its name to c. Joseph. C. Josef lamy gmbh, which is now known to us as the lamy. In 1952, the first pen, named lamy 27, which had not only a full pen tip, but also a tintomatik storage system to guarantee the continued supply of ink, was introduced with a smooth and clear writing effect, which has also continued to date。
After the lamy 27 epidemic, joseph moved the company to heidelberg in the weibringen region of germany, where he is now located at the headquarters of the united states. This move became a successful grass-and-snaps line for the lents brand, and heidelberg, as a university city, not only has high-quality writing requirements, but is also a centre of innovation in the arts and design, providing ample space for the fermentation of the lusts。
Lamy27
If joseph lemmy, the founder of the generation, lays down the genes of lamy's development, the addition of manfred lemmy, the “second generation of the pen”, injects the company's soul into the design of the “boehaus style”, which is unique to lamy, and sets the tone of her brand。
In 1966, lamy2000, the symbol of the origin of lamy's design, was found to have a significant impact on the prevailing design tastes of the pursuit of “excessive” design. In the production of lamy2000 shells, they combined polycarbonate with stainless steel to ensure a quality of the product while reducing the pressure of the pen, and introduced innovative techniques such as spring pens, which gave priority to functionality in all respects. Lamy 2000 became a revolutionary new product at the time, and the bohos style tone of “form-subordination” was established。
It is worth mentioning that lamy2000, a product designed by manfred and the independent designer, grey alfred muller, has since become an important model for the development of new products by leng-max and has been developed since then。
Lamy 2000
While deep-drive research and development within the company and working with external designers, lamy has also been known for its continuous participation in international design competitions。
In 1980, the “safari hunters” series launched by lamy emerged from the frankfurt expo. Consumers noted that the pen was designed not only in a card button at the top of the cap to ensure that it was not loose, but also in a triangle ring at the penshake, which helped writers to correct their position and make it easier to write. The powerful design subjugated the group of young people aged 10-15 years who were in the learning phase, making them the first pen of beauty for these young consumers, and the safari hunters, who also took one of the world's best-selling pens behind them。
Despite their small size, pens are complex and varied, and production can be very difficult in many dimensions, such as senses, smooth ink flow, and paper scraping. In order to further ensure the stability of the company's products, lin mei built a retrofitting workshop in the 1980s, which was an important step towards the production of tools and retrofitting。
Since then, the manufacture of parts such as pen tips, pen cores, ink, cartridges, etc., has been able to achieve internal production and quality. At the same time, lin mei has focused heavily on “german manufacturing”, leaving more than 95 per cent of the production chain at the heidelberg plant, setting up an ambush for the subsequent development of an asian market that values german design and technology。
Compliance: light brand
100-year-olds, made in germany, and like many common european brands, when they arrived in asian markets, lamy wore a “luxurious” jacket. In 2006, hong kong east asia ltd. Took over authority over lamy central, hong kong and australia, and in 2008, lamy officially entered the chinese market with a sword pointing to the top-end market。
Lamy has a whole set of ideas on how to build a “high-end” brand。
First, to open down-line channels as brand positions. When it first entered china in 2008, lamy opened its first brand shop in the city of beijing. As one of the first shopping malls in the country to gather and enjoy food and drink, the new business landscape of west olympia has attracted a group of young consumers, and lamy has taken advantage of this opportunity to take over the minds of chinese consumers with design-sense labels and a well-developed counter。
After west olympia, lamy continued to expand into the core business circles in the open-line cities in the north, then gradually irradiated to the second and third-line cities, all of which were selected for integrated shopping centres with high urban population. This not only enhances exposure and the frequency of exposure of brands to targeted consumers, but also enhances consumer awareness of lamy through the image of the mall and other brands within the mall. To date, information from the official network indicates that there are 82 physical stores in the 26 provinces of the mainland of china。
Second, high-priced brand value and screening of clients。
In germany, the price of “safari hunters” is 17. 9 euros, and the price of “stellar al-star” is 23. 9 euros, calculated at the current euro 1:8, “safari hunters” the sale price in germany is rmb 143. 2, and the “star al-star” is rmb 191. 2. However, in the national skycat flag store, the average "safari hunter" sells 350 yuan, with a limited colour of 399 yuan, and the "star al-star" general amount of 480 yuan, with a limited colour of 530 yuan, with a difference of more than twice。
Thirdly, product-centred marketing has been accompanied by extraordinary moves to capture young consumers。
For example, in packaging design, lamy took full advantage of brand country effects as quality endorsements for products. The so-called brand origin effect means that the information in the country where the product is produced has an impact on consumer product parity, quality judgement, attitudes and purchasing intentions. Germany’s leading position in manufacturing was laid long ago in world war ii, and there was a global consensus that lamy, by virtue of its advantage, tried to display the message of “design made in german” at every point of contact, and to endorse its quality in the image of the industrial powers。
In an effort to further anchor consumers and create brand memory points, lamy decided to create the explosive bill as a primary push for the classic pens of "safari hunter" and "al-star star"。
First, to increase the rareness of pens, lamy annually introduces a colour qualification and actively joins various well-known ip names. In 2018, for example, a pikachu box for the safari hunter was introduced, and 5,000 sets were sold out of pre-sold on the same day, even with a high price premium in the secondary market, further boosting the value of the brand over the united states。
Second, lamy has also made full use of kol grass for fissionable transmission. In the era of micro-blogging centres, official accounts interacted actively whenever consumers tanning on microblogs, and now there are thousands of shared notes on “safari hunters” and “al-star stars”。
But it is also clear to lamy that the writing value of pens is no longer important for current-day consumers, that it is easier and simpler to complete a textual communication, whether by typing on a mobile phone computer or using a round pen, and that companies must find new living space。
This is why lamy has introduced a gift box and an engraving service to enhance the social identity of the product. Crossword services offered by both the official network and the offline store give product unique features and strengthen the emotional link between brand and consumer. The dresser emphasizes that pens are no longer a writing tool, but rather a medium for communicating feelings among friends。
Through a series of operations, lamy became a light luxury net red in china。
All these cases show us lamy's efforts and persistence, but even a hundred-year brand of pens can't resist the age-old wheel rolling forward。
Whether it is fresh in the form of gifts, or in the context of mixed identities, the overall shrinking demand, each step in the pen industry is difficult。
Koda, nokia, the sunset industry's brands have collapsed. It seems that, while a little boasting, selling mitsubishi is the best option for lamy。
