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Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

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FLandOBX
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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby FLandOBX » Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:40 pm

I think we'll get used to Duotone. It'll be fine in the long run. There are a lot of kiteboarding brand names that aren't very sexy, and we accept them. Think about Core, RRD, HQ, Pansh, even Ozone and Liquid Force. If we weren't used to those names, they'd sound kinda' dull or cheezy.

On the other hand, I will be the first to admit that one of the primary reasons I wanted to learn to kiteboard was that I wanted to own a "Slingshot Turbo Diesel".......one of the all time great names for a brand and kite. :cool2: :thumb: :cool2:

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby alexeyga » Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:12 am

How about we try a simple exercise, let's pronounce aloud the following kite models:
Core GTS
Slingshot RPM
Ozone Enduro
Cabrinha FX (Can't believe I've learned to spell that one more or less right)
Liquid Force NV
Naish Torch
F-One Bandit
Duotone Rebel

Now - which of these sounds like pig's vomit? Honestly?

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby HendrikVdP » Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:28 am

Crazy how much reactions a name can draw.

You'll eventually get used to it, i have already since the name first leaked 1-2 months ago here on kiteforum.
Nothing you can do about it, and the gear will stay the same, team stays the same.......

I liked the interview with Till and was exited to read that now there is more freedom to choose where to push the brand to.

Dan, can you give us some insight on what is happening with the foil range ? the picture of Till and Craig saw new wings and fuselage already :D
I'm exited to see which upgrades might become available to the speedster range.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby plummet » Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:48 am

What a stupid assed name change.
Did they run an internet competition for most shithouse name? Hell "Kitey McKite Face" would have been way better.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby foilholio » Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:54 am

Ion would have been much better.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby dlangpap » Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:57 am

FLandOBX wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 11:40 pm
I think we'll get used to Duotone. It'll be fine in the long run. There are a lot of kiteboarding brand names that aren't very sexy, and we accept them. Think about Core, RRD, HQ, Pansh, even Ozone and Liquid Force. If we weren't used to those names, they'd sound kinda' dull or cheezy.

On the other hand, I will be the first to admit that one of the primary reasons I wanted to learn to kiteboard was that I wanted to own a "Slingshot Turbo Diesel".......one of the all time great names for a brand and kite. :cool2: :thumb: :cool2:
You are being kind of contradictory here, on one hand saying that there are a lot of uncool brand names and on the other mentioning that just a name was enough to attract you to a sport. Do you remember the Fuels of that time by the way? Remember their colors and combinations (when they had the right ones)? What kite would you have bought just from the looks and colors? When I started, Fuels were destroying the other brands in design and colors and that's the kite I wanted to get, provided they were more or less in the same quality range as the top brands...

I disagree with Ozone and Liquid Force, they are both cool brand names, and I think RRD is the best that could have been done with Roberto Ricci (even BM or B&M would have been better than Duotone). What are HQ and Pansh? See how it works?

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby dlangpap » Sat Jun 23, 2018 1:02 am

benkitesurfs wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 9:38 pm
dlangpap wrote:
Fri Jun 22, 2018 7:11 pm


Very well put, except IMO the brand name and graphics matter greatly, maybe not in an accounting firm, but definitely in a kitesurfing and windsurfing company. And sure, you can neutralize a bad brand name with great products but you won't certainly be making your life easier.

To Dan I would like to ask if market research showed a completely different reaction to the one prevalent in this forum?

In any case, love my NEO, Dice and Kontakt and truly hope the transition goes OK.
In the interview with the kiteboarder: https://www.thekiteboarder.com/2018/06/ ... o-duotone/
Till said the following when asked about the choice of name:

“When we were looking for a name for the new brand, we chose Duotone as the internal project name. The longer we worked with it, the more we realized that this name was a really good match for the new brand. On top of that, this name was already registered worldwide by Boards & More.”

Perhaps Dan can clarify this, but it reads to me like they created this internal projec name, and without doing any market research, they just decided to stick with it, because they were used to it, and it was already registered, so they saved some money. It’s incredibly strange to me that something so important, and permanent, was chosen so flippantly.
That's what I was saying. It seems unbelievable to me that a team that not only has great technical expertise but evidently has some marketing sense (ION and Fanatic are very well positioned and branded) would try to find shortcuts or entirely disregard the process of re-branding, especially when coming from such a strong, long-standing, market leader brand.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby SaltWaterDog » Sat Jun 23, 2018 2:07 am

alexeyga wrote:
Sat Jun 23, 2018 12:12 am
How about we try a simple exercise, let's pronounce aloud the following kite models:
Core GTS
Slingshot RPM
Ozone Enduro
Cabrinha FX (Can't believe I've learned to spell that one more or less right)
Liquid Force NV
Naish Torch
F-One Bandit
Duotone Rebel

Now - which of these sounds like pig's vomit? Honestly?
Sounds like an impotent/menopausal rockstar. I made this point on Pink’s thread, brand loyalty is a funny thing. Product is the same and rationally it should make absolutely no difference in terms of quality or what customers can expect from the new name. But you cannot quantify brand loyalty and I’m sure they will take a hit. Good for Duotone they were already the biggest player..

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby knotwindy » Sat Jun 23, 2018 3:11 am

A rose by my other name would still...

rip your f’in finger open with a thorn!?

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby apollo4000 » Sat Jun 23, 2018 6:52 am

Dan...good man....will Till, reduce my bill, now there’s no licence fee, jacking up the price to me?


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