Could you wait two years for a kitchen knife that was made just for you? The guys at Bloodroot Blades hope so.
Luke Snyder and David Van Wyk from Bloodroot don’t mind that you must wait 41 months to buy a knife for $575. They are making it just for your hand.
In this world of instant gratification, it’s a pleasure to learn about a brand with a sharp perspective on branding. A waiting list and customized approach to products mean that they are genuinely crafting something bespoke and beautiful.
Bloodroot, Bespoke and Beautiful
The Bloodroot Blades boys find and reclaim metal from junkyards, blacksmiths, auto yards, and other recyclable locations. Sometimes they find springs from an old Chevy from the ’50s or a part of a shipwrecked boat. The wooden handle might come from an old European music factory that made clarinets or a pecan tree farm in their home state of Georgia.
The owners are artisans with roots in woodworking and blacksmith activities. When Luke’s acquaintance David requested a chef’s knife as a gift for a wedding, the opportunity and passion for kitchen tools intersected. The right knife for one person’s hand isn’t the perfect knife for someone else.
This approach to foraging for special materials and fitting a knife like a custom suit is rare in today’s mass-produced world.
Bloodroot Blades was featured in a documentary that Morgan Spurlock created as an homage to craftsmanship. It was funded by Haagen Dazs, who wanted to promote their new artisan ice cream offerings. Instead of making a documentary on ice cream, Spurlock told stories of various artisans and how they painstakingly create beautiful products with distinct features and functions.
Lessons from Bloodroots
Sometimes the obvious path is to tell a commercial story about your product. But the intelligent marketing folks at Haagen Dazs realized that they needed to communicate about artists and artisans who had a passion for their life work, not about ice cream. So often, we default to talking about our product in a commercial context.
It is wise to think laterally about the story of customized kitchen tools that are made just for you.
Instead of creating marketing material about your product, could you tell a story that can shine a light on a value demonstrated through others? For example, perhaps there is a tool that is instrumental in your work but often not featured. Imagine writing the story of the person who created a special cutting shear that delicately yet precisely removes grapes from a vine.
Or maybe it is the story of the workers’ hands who pick the grapes gently so that they don’t damage them during harvest.
Look to the left or right to find these stories. They can be close but often overlooked. Spurlock did in his documentary, and he didn’t feature the products but the art behind the artisan. And that is precisely what Haagen Dazs wanted to promote.
Any way you slice it, the documentary Crafted from Morgan Spurlock is worth watching.
Take a look at the trailer below. Here is a link in case you can see it embedded in this post.
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You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. The conversation is free, and we can explore if working together makes sense. Watch a short video about working with me.
Notes: I learned about Spurlock’s film from Mitch Joel’s podcast, Six Pixel of Separation. If you aren’t familiar with his work, listen to his interview here. Want to connect with me to talk to sharpen your sword, link here.
Photo credit: From the Bloodroot website. All rights reserved. www.bloodrootblades.com
