Forum for kitesurfers
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Toby
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Barra do Cauipe, Brazil
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Postby Toby » Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:24 am
Hahaha, good one!!
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jumptheshark
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Postby jumptheshark » Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:43 pm
Tried ordering something from ion's 2018 line up from a north american shop's web site. They are right next to North's American distribution centre. They didn't have it in stock and I was happy to wait, but they preferred to refund du to no expected delivery date.
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SaltWaterDog
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Postby SaltWaterDog » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:50 pm
Wow! I’m glad I joined this forum. Had no idea you could find insider industry info on here. That really sucks for North (or whatever they’re called now) it will probably cost them quite a bit of market share since so many identify with whatever brand they use. But a little more competition never hurts when you consider how big a chunk of the market North has been sitting on.
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timstijntjes
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Postby timstijntjes » Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:54 pm
Have you looked at the color schemes of the 2018 North kites? Combining two similar colors is that not called "duo-tone" ??
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SaltWaterDog
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Postby SaltWaterDog » Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:54 am
Was that meant for me, Tim?
You would be surprised how the average consumer operates. Your point is perfectly reasonable and logical but people tend to be very particular about their brand loyalty. The corporate graveyard is littered with companies that thought they could do a name change and suddenly found themselves in trouble. Not saying this will happen to North or whatever they will be called, but it would surprise me if they didn’t take a hit because of this. There’s nothing wrong with their products of course, but messing with your brand (intentional or not) is a dangerous move in any industry.
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alford
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Postby alford » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:05 am
If everything else stays the same, kites made at same factory, kites look the same, same designers, just a different name on the kite, they can pull it off with a savy media blitz. I wonder if they'll be able to keep model names like Neo and Rebel, or will those stay with the North name? That could be trouble.
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matth
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Postby matth » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:23 am
alford wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:05 am
If everything else stays the same, kites made at same factory, kites look the same, same designers, just a different name on the kite, they can pull it off with a savy media blitz. I wonder if they'll be able to keep model names like Neo and Rebel, or will those stay with the North name? That could be trouble.
Who remembers Datsun?
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sabraxas
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Postby sabraxas » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:30 am
First was the Click bar.
Then came the Rebel in only 4 lines.
Now North will change name to South Kiteboarding.
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foilholio
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Postby foilholio » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:27 am
Oh dear.
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timstijntjes
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Postby timstijntjes » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:14 pm
SaltWaterDog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 24, 2018 12:54 am
Was that meant for me, Tim?
You would be surprised how the average consumer operates. Your point is perfectly reasonable and logical but people tend to be very particular about their brand loyalty. The corporate graveyard is littered with companies that thought they could do a name change and suddenly found themselves in trouble. Not saying this will happen to North or whatever they will be called, but it would surprise me if they didn’t take a hit because of this. There’s nothing wrong with their products of course, but messing with your brand (intentional or not) is a dangerous move in any industry.
No SaltWaterDog, just a general comment related to the name speculations Duotone and me looking at the sea realising that the North kites are coloured "duotone"
I would say it would be a challenge indeed to convince the North customers that nothing "but" the name will be changed, they might not feel the same about it..
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