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Who drives the kite boarding market?

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What drives the market most for kite boarding?

Magazine Exposure
6
19%
Internet Forums
15
47%
Contest Performance
2
6%
Word of Mouth
9
28%
 
Total votes: 32

Hangwind
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Who drives the kite boarding market?

Postby Hangwind » Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:02 pm

I'm 42 and have been involved with solo pursuits since I was about five years old after my Mother introduced me to her skateboard (1965.) In my pursuit of fun, I graduated to surfing (1977), then to snowboarding (1978), then to hang and paragliding (1979) and on to kiting (2001).

What am I getting at?

Well, over the years, I have watched sports evolve. In the past, sports and the equipment evolved through a couple of different aspects. Contest performance, free riders, magazines, movies and television. The performance of the equipment was obviously rider driven to progress but the esthetics often were defined by the riders themselves.

My question isn't simple.

In this information age, I believe that the internet has a direct impact on our choices. People are now a part of the progression, not just a prima donna rider who is front page of a magazine. I see people who are not in the industry actually RIPPING as hard if not harder than the contestant. Online forums allow one to "self promote" and showcase performance against the industry.

Case in point? The plywood brigade...

I believe that this is important. Let the community be heard, not just an editors will.

So, breaking it down and simply making it one sentance, or even through a poll.

Who drives the market?

Who drives the market? Are we free thinkers? Are the kites available out there define what is really wanted by the purchasing populace. Do magazines have anything to do with your purchases? Why was the kite surfing label replaced by kite boarding? Why why why?

Do you have any thoughts on this?

I am interested in hearing what you have to say.

adam trahan
http://www.foilpilot.com

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Postby sq225917 » Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:48 pm

adam i didn't vote because i think the options need to be wider,.
in some respects its the companys with the biggest marketing and the tv coverage for comps that drive the market.

at the end of the day no one starts kiting because of a fourm, you find that out later once you start looking for more info.

if you mean what drives increases in performance and new design, then its the designers and market share. i dont remmeber us ever getting together to send a big post off to anyone saying can we please have this for next year. we generally quite happily take what we are given.

point in case, naish x10, we know its out there, don m knows its a superb kite, robby naish knows its a dog and will never be used for real, so out it comes as a statement of the art, its not meant to be used its like a B&W nautilis speaker. but it gives people somemthing to aspire too.

the big profile comps and gnarly extreme tv channels pump the sport, they seee it as a line of advertising income, they don't care who wins or on what, only that people are interested in it.

there are two definite groups here, the aspiring, comp wannabes-willbes, who really want to rip and be seen to rip and maybe even fly around the world being forced to wait on windy beaches for right conditions and then asked to leave at 3pm each day when it is all called off.

and then there's the other group who have no aspirations of anything other than just enjoying themselves, and for the most part i think the majority of us fall into that category, sure i'm learning tricks so i don't look a dick on my beach but i'd rather be the first guy to sail round the uk than the uk champion. (neither of which are likely).

so to make brief, the companies control the direction of the kit, and the publicity drives who joins, and we the kiters drive the kites.

kiting with a certain brand is not a political choice, though many feel it is, as i am in the fortunate situation of being involved with a company that i can have some affect on, i choose to stick with them rather than being dictated to by an uber brand.

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Postby Hangwind » Thu Mar 13, 2003 9:21 pm

Excellent!

Thank you for the response.

I am a bit biased in that I do not watch television and my subscription to a magazine is quite limited. I do however enjoy the broad spectrum "Kite World Magazine" I think the name is from the UK.

It's a multi-faceted question, probably much too broad for simplification...

I enjoy kiting, makes not a difference what kite or even which discipline that is chosen. The aspect of wind propulsion is what is exciting for me.

The reason for the proposal for your answers here is that we have a forum that many faces in and out of the industry participate in, right here, gathered around our virtual fire pit. Our words are in real time, the discussion is too and can be looked at in retrospect at the end of the day.

Money? Well, money has a lot to do with it, profit margin and all. But what I really want to see is what the end user, the real "Joe" has to say about his or her choices. Does he go, "Wow, cool kite ad, I want this one!" or "I want to see a better foil!" and then tries the out, purchases or continues the searches?

What drives you to purchase the equipment that you do?

Perhaps this is what I should have titled.

Kiteboarding has so many choices, so many styles. It's funny for me to read, "*Is wake style out?" This makes me feel like we are a cadre of followers...

I enjoy reading the commitment of a pywood board enthusiast's choices. Strongly independant, anti establishment in a way, it's a tangent, but it truly is interesting to me. After affording a purchased board, I am driven to build one of my own by these people who are so independantly minded. Their attititude is quite refreshing in our commercial world. Reading of those who build their own kites, their own boards and then go on to hone their own techniques, this is the epitome.

So to close, hopefully if any of the readers of this particular topic are piqued by my question and now your response, they will go on to their own thoughts and even perhaps give their own interpretation of my own little rant.

Best of Lift,

adam

*I have not read the topic that rings of this idea.

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Postby Rv » Fri Mar 14, 2003 12:35 pm

Hangwind wrote:What drives you to purchase the equipment that you do?
For me, it's a matter of researching what's available ('net, magazines) then investigating the pros and cons of each type ('net), and deciding which best fits my requirements. Once I've narrowed down what I think I might like, I try out the kit (thanks to my local kite shop) and if it lives up to my expectations, I buy it (from the same shop).

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Postby Trikke » Fri Mar 14, 2003 3:21 pm

As in every mass sport: brands and pros :-?

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Postby sq225917 » Fri Mar 14, 2003 4:21 pm

do yuo think the brands and pro's lead the market or just attract people to the market.

i saw the sport in its infancy and thought, i'll try that sport, i didn;t have any preconceptions about what kit i'd try it with, infact i used my old blade for the first month and the first board i saw that didn't look like it would cut my legs in half.

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Postby Guest » Sat Mar 15, 2003 10:36 pm

where I have lived for a while it needs guts to ride a plyboard. it may become different this season but endemic utter perfectionism and group dynamics once and again spoiled a lot of good spirit around here.

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Postby Hangwind » Sat Mar 15, 2003 11:00 pm

My point exactly.

One must be secure and intolerant of peer pressure in order to innovate.

Thanks for actually putting this to words.

Sometimes less is more...


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