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Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby hajvar » Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:52 pm

Should we rename the thread "North Team creates new brand..." :D

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby iriejohn » Fri Jul 20, 2018 10:26 pm

Toby wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:10 pm
SaltWaterDog wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:27 pm
iriejohn wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:20 pm
The other established kite brands must be privately laughing behind their hands - what an utter shambles. :roll:
So far it would seem the competitors are the only winners in all of this. Complete PR circus and incalculable loss of brand value for B&M and North Sails.
don't underestimate marketing...if Dt and North puts a lot of money into marketing, like advertising and presence at demo events...they will get more attention then the other brands.

Just saying...future knows!
Not underestimating marketing Toby.

Consider this: North Kiteboarding marketing their new range of kites vs. Duotone marketing their Rebel, Evo, Dice, Neo etc.

Surreal.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby SaltWaterDog » Fri Jul 20, 2018 11:11 pm

Toby wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 8:10 pm
SaltWaterDog wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:27 pm
iriejohn wrote:
Fri Jul 20, 2018 7:20 pm
The other established kite brands must be privately laughing behind their hands - what an utter shambles. :roll:
So far it would seem the competitors are the only winners in all of this. Complete PR circus and incalculable loss of brand value for B&M and North Sails.
don't underestimate marketing...if Dt and North puts a lot of money into marketing, like advertising and presence at demo events...they will get more attention then the other brands.

Just saying...future knows!
I don't think Duotone or North are destined to fail, but it's damn hard to untangle a branding screw up like this and from a marketing perspective its like starting from square one. Both companies have the money so they will be around but I doubt either will be the dominant player like we saw from old North.

Customers who prioritise brand loyalty when they buy (and most won't admit it themselves) will have serious problems knowing their Rebel is no longer a North Rebel, or that buying North now means they won't know what they'll get. I know it sounds stupid but most consumers do not behave like rational buyers. Add to that, it's a whole year of North faithfuls wondering if they should just try something else and dreading the prospect of a 2019 North kite that won't be what they already know. Plenty will defect in that time. Brands live and die by their core/early adopters. They're responsible for bringing most of the rest along for the fun. Once you lose the die-hards you tend to be in deep shit.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby dlangpap » Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:28 am

This took shorter than I thought. Evidently the people at North Technology Group think the brand has too much value to just be left to die (for those that were saying brands are unimportant the real world quickly teaches something). The creators of Duotone must be now pondering if they should have paid a bit more attention to re-branding than "we were using it as a code name and it just stuck" and to the looks of their products...

Interesting also what someone mentioned: Duotone own the brand names but who owns the designs themselves? By the looks of the Duotone products we've been able to see so far, it would seem they still own them (slightly hard to tell but one can see familiar outlines in the new Duotone Rebels and Neos that showed in the pictures). Yes, Duotone have a one year advantage but iMO the way they have approached this, they have lost a great opportunity to reposition themselves properly.

Meanwhile, are there any more precise news on whether something similar has happened with Cabrinha and Neil Pryde? Big difference is that, if they split, I think Pete owns the name? In any case, imagine if they did, we'd have 4 kite brands emerging from 2 previously, and market leaders no less with big corporations behind them. Neil Pryde kitesurfing? What seems clear is that the new North will have lots of ex-Cabrinha people and also Ozone. Would like to know who the main designers are as this is fundamental for brand identity.

In any case, very interesting times ahead; unfortunately we'll have to wait one year to see how this all unravels. So far though, strategically North 2, Duotone 0, for the lame brand name and North for announcing launch in a year; that will make a lot of potential Duotone customers hold their buying decision until they see the new North product. I guess Ion doesn't sound so bad now...

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby barrybarryr » Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:10 am

dlangpap wrote:
Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:28 am
I guess Ion doesn't sound so bad now...
Flexifoil probably still own the copyright/trademark to put the name Ion on a kite.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Toby » Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:43 am

B&M own the designs and Anne's of the models.

Again, only thing that changed is the name, rest is same same.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby dice » Sat Jul 21, 2018 10:44 am

The most important part in this are the local sellers I think.
As long as they inform the buyer that the DT kite is still from the same North guys, it will be fine.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby dlangpap » Sun Jul 22, 2018 1:48 pm

barrybarryr wrote:
Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:10 am
dlangpap wrote:
Sat Jul 21, 2018 5:28 am
I guess Ion doesn't sound so bad now...
Flexifoil probably still own the copyright/trademark to put the name Ion on a kite.
Or any other decent brand name...

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby fernmanus » Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:00 pm

I say shame on B&M for two reasons:

1. Not securing the North Kites brand, so this type of debacle could never happen.
2. Settling on the name Duotone because they already owned the name. Just because you own the name, it does not make it a good one.

That being said, I hope they do succeed. It is too bad that a great team has to work with this uncertainty. Whether or not they will be fine remains to be seen, but there is no doubt that the North brand has a lot of cachet in the kiting community.

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Re: Officially announced: North becomes Duotone

Postby Toby » Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:46 pm

fernmanus wrote:
Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:00 pm
2. Settling on the name Duotone because they already owned the name. Just because you own the name, it does not make it a good one.
ever tried to secure a name?

try, then I am sure you would one that is in your portfolio already :naughty:


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