Look to the West at NeoCon 2022. This year the city of Poulsbo, in our nation’s 42nd state, Washington, raises its ranking among contract furniture centers of design excellence.
Nestled among mountain vistas and forests of Douglas firs, Poulsbo is where Watson makes an award-winning offering of tables and systems. As good as that sounds, it merely introduces why Watson is one to watch.
Photos courtesy of Watson
Ask Joe McKenzie, Watson’s director of marketing. “It’s something special to announce new products, attract people to see them, and then receive the validation of winning five product design awards.”
The awards to which Mr. McKenzie refers came during NeoCon 2021, held last October at theMART in Chicago. Watson did more than win. They made design industry history, winning Best of NeoCon Gold five ways, with four Golds going to the same product line.
The line was Haven, designed by Mike & Maaike in a collaborative effort with Watson. The four-award-sweep for Haven in the Furniture category captured Gold in Collections for Collaboration; Conference Rooms; Seating: Benches; and Tables: Commercial.
Watson’s fifth Best of NeoCon Gold belongs to the C9 Trolley in the Furniture category, taking honors for Storage.
“We’ve hosted events for designers and those who couldn’t attend NeoCon,” said Mr. McKenzie. The first in San Francisco the month after NeoCon saw guests interact with the award-winning products and meet the product designers behind them. For Watson, there was more to do than slap award logos on their website and declare “good job, well done.”
First, they made the most of a great opening line. “We can get in front of someone, start mentioning Best of NeoCon, and get a good response,” said Mr. McKenzie. “Next comes transitioning into what they are working on, what they are looking for, and getting into Watson’s solutions to their project requirements.”
Second, drive home how Watson’s legacy lowers defenses against specifying project business through a smaller maker. Last year’s product design awards help, but Watson has been to the winner’s circle before. The firm’s roots complete the picture. What Grahame Watson started on Bainbridge Island in the early 1960s and his embrace of vertical integration assured the firm’s trajectory.
Sixty years on, the market Watson faces has matured, expanded, and specialized. For Joe McKenzie’s part, he emphasizes continuity and momentum. “I believe our ongoing efforts in product development and getting the word out are drawing new attention to Watson.”
He sees distribution partners, specifiers, and clients growing more interested in smaller manufacturers, which some might say is “more of a risk.” Mr. McKenzie counters by saying Watson’s consistency of winning design and day-to-day performance “takes away a lot of that concern.”
Next, keep it real. Insights here come from Lucas Pearl, vice president of product development at Watson. Fulfilling the company’s promises to customers leads his list of priorities, which he defines with meanings unique to Watson.
“We’re focused on tables and systems, and we’re very intentional in developing these product lines,” said Mr. Pearl. “We’re intimately familiar with the functional requirements, we understand their specialized designs, and we can engage customers in these conversations with knowledge and confidence.”
Those dialogues build trust, a factor that specifiers rank highly in industry surveys about vendor relationships. Specifiers sometimes find it, but it gets lost in the shuffle too often. What keeps Watson on the right track?
They avoid coasting on momentum from the firm’s stable of award-winning products, for starters. “So much of keeping our word ties into making sure we’re not creating halo products, but instead the ones that show us putting our best foot forward,” said Mr. Pearl.
Nor does Watson portray false modesty. The five wins at NeoCon 2021, which Mr. Pearl says hasn’t been achieved by another manufacturer in 29 years, brought more than a few first-time visitors into Watson’s showroom. That plays into a company value at Watson.
“Playing to win is part of our culture,” said Mr. Pearl, extending to the company’s routine operations. Weekly calls among the firm’s administrative team and monthly company-wide barbecues connect all departments to the firm’s daily happenings and long-term plans.
Of course, the Best of NeoCon news warranted special attention. Given the two-hour time difference, text messages from Chicago arrived as colleagues awakened in Poulsbo. Mr. Pearl remembers the moment. “I sent photos of the awards to the product team and the design team.”
Not only was the news great to wake up to, but it also underscores the efforts at unifying members of Watson’s team as the firm grows.
“So many pieces of our organization come together to manufacture the product,” said Mr. Pearl. “Each group knows the particular part or component that comes through their shop or across their bench.”
He gave an example: “Our steel shop knows the Haven leg well, but they don’t necessarily see how the entire product line comes together.”
Mr. McKenzie and Mr. Pearl create opportunities to present the completed products before the Watson team. Explaining these successes brings the product’s genesis full circle, vividly illustrating each person’s significance and contribution to Watson’s ongoing legacy.
At theMART, what will NeoCon 2022 visitors see in Watson’s showroom, Suite 3-341? “We will build out a collaboration space and team spaces to amplify the Haven’s dynamism and expand some existing product lines,” said Mr. Pearl.
Beyond that, Joe McKenzie and Lucas Pearl agree that the best days of the office furniture marketplace are in the here and now. They believe Watson has what specifiers need to ensure offices are successful, becoming the preferred choice of where people work and not the choice of last resort.
Stephen Witte writes, speaks, and consults for the design industry. Contact him at stephenmwitte@gmail.com.