“The brand was a delicate flower that had to be cherished and nurtured”
Making of the Roberts brand Initially the Roberts Radio brand was absorbed into Morphy Richards Consumer Electronics, which included radios, telephones and personal care products. “The people who worked on Roberts Radio did not understand brands and within a year the business, which was already on a slippery slope, was clearly in freefall. In 1996, I received a call from Martin Naughton who said: ‘Leslie, you got me into this mess; you’d better get me out of it.’ The brief was clearly to do it up and sell it on. Our small team was capable of turning the business around very quickly
and within eighteen months we separated Roberts business from the rest of the Morphy Richard CE business. I made a presentation at the Institute of Directors saying that the business is ready for sale and the company will make a good profit on the original purchase. Martin Naughton then said to me: ‘Leslie you don’t understand me: we only buy companies, we don’t sell them. The rest is history. “If it hadn’t been for Martin’s and Sean O’Driscoll’s commitment, the brand would have gone,” stresses Leslie. “At the time it didn’t have volume opportunities for large retailers. It was a team effort; there
is no doubt about it. It only happened that I was the team captain. The brand was a delicate flower that had to be cherished and nurtured.”
How has he gone about it? “When I asked Dick Roberts what is the age profile of his company’s consumers, he told me: ‘45 to dead’. Then I realized that if we are going to motor this brand it has to have a much broader appeal – in terms of products, designs, colours… And we did it largely through the evolution of the Revival. Starting with the Revival we introduced new colours, shapes, finishers; making the product iconic. From there we
February 2013 The Independent Electrical Retailer 17
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