Does holding a Festool make you feel better?

[HarveyWildes]

I once read an article on Diet Coke that asserted that Diet Coke was an "image enhancing" drink.  That is, just holding a can of Diet Coke made you feel better about yourself.  This was over and above any physical property of the drink - the taste, the calories, etc.  The person who wrote the article was a marketing psychologist, and thought that Coke had achieved a major marketing coup - if people just hold a can of Diet Coke, they have better feelings about themselves.  What a powerful marketing tool!

So my question (for people who own Festool tools) is, does holding a Festool make you feel better about yourself?  That is, have the Festool marketing folks achieved a little of this marketing Nirvana with their brand, that just associating with the brand makes you feel better?

BTW, if the answer is yes, don't feel bad - I think overall that this is a pretty common marketing concept/objective.

 

[chrisrosenb]

The only way holding a Festool makes me feel better is if it does the job I am doing better than another brand tool.
I have owned, used & sold a lot of Festool tools that I could not see a benefit in continuing to own them.

 

[Paul G]

Finishing a project makes me feel good regardless of the brands of tools involved.

 

[Steve-Rice]

There is a certain confidence that my track saw will give me a beautiful, splinter free cut, that I do not have with my large cabinet saw.  Also a confidence that my dominoes will line up perfectly that was definitely not there with hand cut mortise and tenons. So, in that respect, I enjoy my projects more than I did before I started drinking the green Kool Aid.

 

[PreferrablyWood]

Festool tools seem to be well balanced and effective. So yup they make me feel better..

 

[Kev]

TCCC is the world's master of spin. Carbonated soft drinks are not good for you, so you need sell it by promoting it's image. The tobacco industry is another great example of this.

"Holding a Festool" is a better feeling than holding a cheap alternative of a similar tool, so in that sense it does make me feel better on a relative scale. Then there's the fact that (as long as I'm observing safely procedures) holding a Festool isn't bad for my health [big grin]

 

[Svar]

Yes. Especially when I hold one in each hand.

 

[charley1968]

Come to think of it: yes, it does. And so does sawing with LN/ Bad Axe or chiseling with the Veritas instead of the Bahco saws/chisels. Really interesting question, mate.

 

[#Tee]

t18 in one hand and cxs in other go out 2 guns blazing. yes i feel good lol

 

[Holmz]

There is some symbolic double entendre irony with respect to the title.

 

[rst]

Any tool that makes my work more effective and efficient makes me feel better...especially if it means getting paid faster.  So, yup, love working my Festools.

 

[HarveyWildes]

There is some symbolic double entendre irony with respect to the title.

No - but it did occur to me about a day after the original post that someone might take it that way.  Dang!

 

[HarveyWildes]

Any tool that makes my work more effective and efficient makes me feel better...especially if it means getting paid faster.  So, yup, love working my Festools.

Several of you have replied along these lines, but that's not really what the article was about.  The article was about feeling good about being associated with the brand without having any conscious rationalization of why - at the end of a process.  I think Charley1968 got it.  We might start out with the brand for substantive reasons.  In the case of Diet Coke, it might be because we are counting calories, while in the case of Festool it might be because of the quality or the system.  And we might feel "good" about that.  However, as we live with the "goodness" of the decision over time, our minds go straight to the good feeling about the tool, without thinking about the reasons.  That good feeling associated with the brand then supports the feeling that we are "better" persons - e.g. it has enhanced our self image.  By this point in the process we will reach for the Festool out of habit and it will make us feel better about ourselves just because it is in hand, without any conscious justification that it is a better tool.  If we thought about it, we would still come up with the reasons why we liked it.  At this point in the process, even if we found a better tool or experienced mild disappointment with the brand, the image enhancing feeling we get from the tool would persist.

Here is a more subtle scenario that illustrates the principle.  Suppose a person switches to Diet Coke to reduce calories, but then eats two Snickers every day because they are hungry and continues to gain weight.  They will still feel good about themselves when holding the Diet Coke, just because it has the words "Diet Coke" on the can, even though the diet Coke is not helping them reach their real objective.

So this is not some trick to get you to admit that you are making "bad" purchases because of the brand.  Maybe, maybe not.  There are really good reasons to buy Festool, depending on the tool and the needs.  One of my practical takeaways is that I want to kick my reason in each time I buy, so that brand psychology does not overly influence the decision, and to try to be clear about objectives when buying the tool.

 

[Holmz]

...
Several of you have replied along these lines, but that's not really what the article was about.  The article was about feeling good about being associated with the brand without having any conscious rationalization of why - at the end of a process.  I think Charley1968 got it. 
...

Hence the wank factor.

I feel that way about the ZetaP2. It is too cool, but its function is what is noteworthy. Still easy to love tool more than the function if it.

 

[peter halle]

Holding a Festool doesn't make me feel better.  But:

I have been a Festool user for somewhere around ten years - and a moderator here for more than seven years.  I have written before that when I pull out a Festool tracksaw, or use a Rotex, or get into finish sanding with my ETS, or ... and I remember HOW I did this type of stuff prior and then I compare post Festool versus prior Festool - I definitely have a smile on my face. 

That holds as true today as when I might have written one or more of those 10,000+ posts.  There are game changing tools; there are application specific changing tools; there are niceties.

Everyone who is in the market to buy a tool produced by any manufacturer needs to evaluate their needs, wants, and expectations.  I did the same thing.  I could have sent tools back too.  I usually buy tools on needs and when doing that I haven't been disappointed with my decision to purchase a tool - especially my Festools.  But I will admit that I have bought a Festool product or two based on anticipated usage and then the usage didn't go to pass.only

I proudly will stop and talk to Festool to anyone.  Not for any other reason than to expose them to possibilities of a tool that I knew not much about 10 years ago; but then my wife gave a Christmas present.

Respectfully,

Peter

 

[mrboult]

I love how often I see posts on the forum, from members with thousands of posts on the 'FESTOOL owners group', saying they hold no bias towards festool unless the tool is uniquely superior in its abilities etc etc. Like it's a crime to spend more money than absolutely necessary to complete said task. . .

I spend my entire working life using my tools day in day out - so a little joy/luxury/exotica in this department is thoroughly welcomed and enjoyed.

In answer to the OP - Yes, holding a festool does make me feel better.  Partly because of the quality and the functionality and the system, but also because it's not the norm, because my sander/drill/router is not the same as the vast majority of carpenters out there. It's nice to feel just a little bit different.

 

[Mort]

When Matt LeBlanc was a guest on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson asked him about modifying his Porsches, because that isn't done much in Europe (apparently). His answer was that anyone can go into a dealer and buy a 911, whether they have the passion or not. He said he loves cars so much that his should go a little faster.

Any yahoo can go into Hombre Depot and buy a Ridgid sander, and it will sand wood just fine. But my Festool sanders just feel better, and it puts a smile on my face.

 

[NHSP759]

Yup.

 

[Job and Knock]

When Matt LeBlanc was a guest on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson asked him about modifying his Porsches, because that isn't done much in Europe (apparently).

Yes, most folk in Europe don't modify Porsches because (i) they are generally too fast for the average Porsche driver who buys them anyway (judging from the number I've scooped out of hedges, fields, etc in the years I drove a recovery truck out of hours) and (ii) if you want a faster one, Porsche generally has a faster model in their range. It just costs more.......

In terms of does holding Festool tools make me feel better, well, no it doesn't - holding the extra money I've made on a contract because it has taken me less time to complete, because I could leave the job with half the clean-up time and  because of the accuracy of my work with little or no need to hand adjust - now that makes me happy! It also makes selling new acquisitions to the missus somewhat easier

 

[Gwerner]

Doesn't make me feel better about myself, but it does make me feel more confident that the operation I'm using it for will be a success.