Waterford Crystal's days are numbered. They've let go of 450 workers and are only biding their time before they drop the rest. Things are so bad that the government has offered them a dig out of €39m. That should keep them going for about, oh say, 6 months. Then they'll probably leave Ireland and set up production in the Czech Republic. Their shares (Waterford Wedgewood) are worth €0.01 each. Basically, things are real bad!
Now, what would you expect a company in their position to do? Continue to hock luxury products to rich American's, or sell-out and start producing cheap crystal tumblers for Tesco? Well, they didn't get where they were by making good marketing decisions...
I was at Ballet Ireland's Wilde Extravaganza in the Cork Opera house a few weeks back. Half the seats were empty. Cork would have the biggest draw outside Dublin for ballet performances, so it figures if half the seats of their Cork performance were empty, things couldn't be much better elsewhere. I open their tour program and what do I see but an add for Waterford Crystal's new Ballet Ribbon collection 2008.
It reads: "giftware with a sophisticated design that pays homage to the superior dance form.", I can't spell "pretentious vomit" quick enough in response. A dying crystal company supporting a dying art form.... believe me, I take no satisfaction in stating that. Waterford Crystal do produce the finest quality Crystal out there. If I ever wanted a crystal goblet, I'd definitely get a 'Waterford one, but I don't, and thats the problem: no one does.
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