Future Of The Waterford Brand: Crystal Clear?

Waterford, which provides the crystal ball that descends in Times Square every New Year’s Eve, has its own brand resolution for 2010: more sparkle.

The ad copy on a new poster for Waterford crystal, starring a pair of champagne flutes, reads:

When two people are meant for each other to come together, you can see it. It’s a sparkle that lights up a room. A sparkle that grows brighter with each passing year. The sparkle of a new beginning.

The poster could be optimistically referring to Waterford itself, which is undergoing its own “new beginning” and hopes that its $2.5 million ad campaign will result in a very sparkly 2010.

The 250-year-old Dublin-based subsidiary of WWRD Holdings, which also owns other brands you’ll find in your grandparents’ curio cabinet (Wedgewood and Royal Dalton), was placed into administration (UK equivalent of bankruptcy protection) in February at a time when consumers are forgoing the $275 candlesticks (now on sale for $129).Continue reading...