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Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

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cglazier
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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby cglazier » Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:43 am

tautologies wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:35 am
Toby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:50 am
It all stays the same, just instead of North it's now Duotone.
Same team on land and on water.
Do you know this for sure? ...
Yes. The inside scoop is that Toby is correct. And there is no indication [currently] that the name North will be used anywhere on any kiteboarding or windsurfing products

:wink: CG

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Toby » Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:14 am

tautologies wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:35 am
Toby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 2:50 am
It all stays the same, just instead of North it's now Duotone.
Same team on land and on water.
Do you know this for sure? I mean if I were North Sails or whatever the name is they have an advantage right now to license that name away again fast. To me that advantage is a short window. My point is that the incentive is there for the brand owner.
Yes. Remember, I work directly with the marketing department...

And it can happen that they North Sails comes with its own kites. Or maybe license to another brand.
But they need to go a long way to get where Duotone is.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby purdyd » Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:49 am

Toby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:14 am

Yes. Remember, I work directly with the marketing department...

And it can happen that they North Sails comes with its own kites. Or maybe license to another brand.
But they need to go a long way to get where Duotone is.
It’s hard for me to believe any reputable existing company would saddle themselves with a license fee for the North name.

Developing a kite and windsurfing company from scratch seems like a rather large investment for North Sails.

If not done right, I think it would cheapen the North Sails brand.

Personally I thought North Sails group gained more from the relationship with boards and more than boards and more did from the North Sails name.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Toby » Thu Jun 14, 2018 10:32 am

back then it was more important for converting from windsurfers to kitesurfers. North had a strong name in the windsurf world.

Times are different now...and I think the products are more important than the brand name in this case.

If you love the Rebel, you can still ride a Rebel. Do you care what brand it is if you get your Rebel?
Changing the model name is a much bigger task.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Clew In » Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:12 pm

Click, Click, Click..................

"Just Duo it"

Rock On,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby FLandOBX » Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:25 pm

tautologies wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:38 am
madworld wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 3:26 am
........There was a dispute over royalties. So "boards and more" had to use a different name for their products. The duotone branded products will be from the same team of engineers/designers as before. In the future North Technology group may buy a kite company to re-brand as North or re-license the North name to some other company for windsurfing and kite-boarding.
hmm..wait if you are a KB brand why on earth would you pay royalties on a brand name? I can see paying royalties for innovations to the product, but how strong is the North brand? ......
I can understand why a KB company would pay royalties to be called "North". It's a strong brand name in my area. But it would be really confusing to have another KB company begin to use the "North" name, if that ever happens. Then, we'd have Duotone products that were the original North products, and North products that are something entirely different. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby tautologies » Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:57 pm

Toby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:14 am
Yes. Remember, I work directly with the marketing department...

And it can happen that they North Sails comes with its own kites. Or maybe license to another brand.
But they need to go a long way to get where Duotone is.
Yeah but you are dealing with the Duotone marketing dept. and not North-mother-company.
There are a ton of people in the industry who could potentially just pick up the slack and start manufacturing kites under the North brand. I obviously do not know this will happen, but there is a potential...especially given North is already willing to license their name away.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby tautologies » Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:58 pm

FLandOBX wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 12:25 pm

I can understand why a KB company would pay royalties to be called "North". It's a strong brand name in my area. But it would be really confusing to have another KB company begin to use the "North" name, if that ever happens. Then, we'd have Duotone products that were the original North products, and North products that are something entirely different. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
This makes sense. I am just assuming margins in KB are such that you do not want to give up points on your bottom line. In that respect I definitely understand why they change name.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby iriejohn » Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:31 pm

tautologies wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:57 pm
Toby wrote:
Thu Jun 14, 2018 4:14 am
Yes. Remember, I work directly with the marketing department...

And it can happen that they North Sails comes with its own kites. Or maybe license to another brand.
But they need to go a long way to get where Duotone is.
Yeah but you are dealing with the Duotone marketing dept. and not North-mother-company.
There are a ton of people in the industry who could potentially just pick up the slack and start manufacturing kites under the North brand. I obviously do not know this will happen, but there is a potential...especially given North is already willing to license their name away.
If North Group decide to go into the kite business and use the North Sails logo then (imo) the sh1t will really hit the B&M fan.

Image

Perhaps with "N/K" and "North Kites" instead of "N/S" and "North Sails" in the logo ...

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby hajvar » Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:18 pm

Just for information:
"Technavio recognizes the following companies as the key players in the global kiteboarding equipment market: Best Kiteboarding, Cabrinha, F-ONE, Naish International, and NORTH KITEBOARDING.

Other Prominent Vendors in the market are: SwitchKites, Slingshot Sports, AIRUSH KITEBOARDING, Liquid Force Kiteboarding, and CrazyFly."


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