Hofner was founded in 1887 by a violin maker and has been making guitars since the 1930’s. In 1961 a young man walked into a music shop in Hamburg and purchased a Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass guitar. Not long afterwards he and the group he was in changed the world. The “Beatle Bass” is the most famous electric bass on the planet and signed versions sell for huge prices at auction. However, outside of Europe few knew of Hofner. We changed all that by launching their handmade, jazz guitar line in the US positioning the brand as “The modern art of music since 1887.” The result: the factory was overwhelmed with orders and couldn’t hire and train craftsmen fast enough. A problem we can give clients sometimes.
Hofner was struggling in the competitive guitar market. Big box stores were pushing aside competition. Our research showed a lack of value and many paid thousands too much. Hofner guitars were handmade in Germany and comperable to vastly more espensive ones in the US. We developed advertising in partnership with top young jazz players and their record labels and garnered great press. The association brought the brand the notice it needed to tell their true value story.
We were so successful that the company gave us another of their European brands to launch in the US: Paesold, a Bavarian company making stringed instruments since 1848.
