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Why Mont Blanc will shut down in the next twenty or less years…

By Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal on 11 Comments / 3163 views

I love Mont Blanc.

Sorry, let me restate that.

I used to love Mont Blanc.

Check out my Mont Blanc collection here:

So, the thicker Maroon and Black pens are ink pens, where as the thin one is a roller ball.

Also note the special ink (a beautiful peacock blue) featured above is an original Mont Blanc Ink Bottle I own and use(d) for my ink pens.

I invested a nice bit of money in my Mont Blanc items.

Then one day, I just stopped using these pens.

Now, let me be honest:

The Mont Blanc pen in a shirt with its just visible signature crown was a Marwari man’s ultimate ‘vanity’ show off symbol!

In fact the fatter the pen, the bigger the vanity.

Men do care about size you know 🙂

But as the curse would have it, I stopped behaving like a Marwari 🙁 

Worse still, I stopped wearing shirts. 

So, there was no use for my Mont Blancs.

Also, in the Internet, digital world, pens don’t find meaning. The pen is your mind – the sheet – the web.

Anyway, I had cleaned and parked my pens off, until I received this e-mail today:

This mail got me excited!

I love Brahms and this pen looked nice. It made me say, “Ok, let me get it!”

I clicked on the web address under the mail only to find that it was an ‘image’, and not a clickable link 🙁

There was no other place for me to visit to buy this pen!

Despondently I searched on Google.

This is what came up:

There was no place for me to go. No web strore that matched my intent (being in India).

I gave up and concluded:

Mont Blanc will close down as a Company in less than twenty years.

And you know why?

Well, here are twenty interesting reasons!

  1. The Company is stuck in the past as its communication shows.

  2. Mont Blanc doesn’t understand what is the Internet, and how to communicate on it.

  3. Mont Blanc doesn’t care about its customers (I got the mail because I am on their database; but then look at how they hand held me!)

  4. No one will use pens.

  5. No one will use pens that cost US$ 300+

  6. The Mont Blanc Company today is unknown to young people. What will happen to it 20 years later?

  7. Mont Blanc is stuck in the pre-Internet age of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s..

  8. Mont Blanc needs to be making keyboards and mice  – not pens and ink. It needs a product overhaul.

  9. The aspiration of a Mont Blanc pen has now be replaced by the iPhone.

  10. The phone is the new vanity signature of a man.

  11. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  12. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  13. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  14. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  15. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  16. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  17. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  18. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  19. Fill in yourself ( ps – using a keyboard, not a Mont Blanc)

  20. Did you realize you won’t ever need a Mont Blanc?

I wrote this blog not just to make Mont Blanc look bad.

I think this can be written for every and any luxury, elite, super expensive, vanity driven brand that is still sleeping in the protective ‘caves’ of the 80’s and 90’s.

When they wake up and step out of their caves (like Mont Blanc just did today), and meet Internet barbarians like me – they stand no chance of surviving.


******

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11 Comments

  1. Now you know why I made that bitch slap comment.

  2. I don’t really agree that pen as a concept will perish, I feel there is something very natural about using a pen/stylus, it is like an extension of your hand and thoughts, or atleast it should be. But I agree Mont Blanc should make it easier for their buyers to show off themselves.

  3. :-))

  4. The stylus may come into vogue if the screen becomes sensitive and responsive enough.  But the pen along with its mate dead wood books is definitely on the extinction list.  Will only survive as collector’s items.  Alok hang on to your Mont Blanc’s your grand kids or great grand kids will make a mini fortune with ’em :))

  5. Someone innovative at those companies should start making Mont Blanc stylus and other accessories.

  6. I agree that Mont Blanc may need to overhaul their product range. I bought a Mont Blanc 6 days ago! And I bought it because, like Alok mentioned earlier, it has an aspirational value. I signed documents today to open bank accounts for my new company, guess which pen I used. Both my partners are below 30, they signed with their Mont Blancs too.
    As much as I love the brand, Yes, I have to agree that they could become obsolete sooner than later. When I went to buy this pen, the store also has Mont Blanc wallets, purses, Stationary, belts and Manicure kits 😉 But I equate Mont Blanc with pens and thats where the association ends for me.
    P.S. I also believe that till there is a need to sign using a pen, Mont Blanc will be around!

  7. i donno whether Mont Blanc will shut down the line or not…or even what exactly made them go ignorant of their consumer’s need… the only thing i know right now is the urge to own a Mont Blanc.

    How come? 😉 🙂

  8. very nice … 🙂

    However points 4,5 and 6 are not true. Actually over time they might start costing more.

    Luxury brands play hard to get.. A crazy game but they do….

    However they need to put both ears to the ground as consumer preferences, recall and association are fast changing. They need to work on innovation. They have come up with BB cases, I phone and ipad cases. But i havent seen any MB pens for devices like the Intuos or stylus for ipads or tablets etc.. Those would be symbols of prosperity as well showoff the consumers taste for luxury products as well (eg. Vertu Phones). 

    However they have missed out a crucial element ie. product innovation. if they don’t indulge in any innovations and evolve with the latest they shall definitely have a very tough time

  9. Some things are happening here:

    1. Brands/companies that fail to innovate perish (motherhood statement)

    2. Luxury is getting redefined – iPhone now versus Mont Blanc earlier

    3. Writing itself is going out of fashion – it’s difficult to find a pen in our office, so few people use it now 😛

  10. By the same token…Rolex or Omega should shut shop because people are increasingly using their mobile phones or desktop clocks to keep time…”Mr Rolex please shift…I can do with an iPhone”…right?

    Just because MB does not sell in an online store along with other products of mass consumption…they should shut shop… right? Had it been the case why would folks at MB still invest in high street retail real estate? Why don’t they have shops in Wadala or Chandivali? They sell experience and not a Rotomac pen…jisse likhte likhte love ho jaaye…

    Leather bound organizers should have died a slow death because people organize their schedules using Outlook calendar…right?

    Purchase of a luxury item is an experience an occasion…that gives you a kick of having arrived and made your bones…

    Just because P.N.Rao (mens apparel store in Bangalore) sells formal suits online…doesn’t mean that Zegna  will do the same. Their website does not sell online and prompts you for a store visit. 

  11. LOL, nice one… You should write one on LOUIS VUITTON aswell 😛

    I am waiting from a long time to get my first MB 🙂 & will get it in some days.

    Probably you or any of your Internet Mktg companies can contact them & manage their Internet Media Mktg with best UI to give to their users. There is severe lack of companies offering such professional services to these kind of companies, & when these companies realize they need an internet presence, they hire some big salaried buffoon who creates shits like this & the Internet Geek(Rodinhood) blogs about the shit created by the buffoon 😛

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