humph.....
More ads, more ads, more ads.
Not really sure why foil companies pay for advertising, just turns me off. Perhaps I'm too sensitive?
What makes me want to buy foils is watching foilers foil, preferably where I live. If not in online clips, 3rd party reviews (thanks to those who do genuine 3rd party reviews). Or even better trialling gear.
I don't sell gear so this isn't a decision I need to make. Just having a bit of a rant as I'm getting turned off companies I like & equipment I have ridden by too much paid advertising.

My question to the collective wisdom and irate ranters is, what makes you want to but foil gear?
A) 3rd party reviews
B) demo days
C) watching friends
D) paid advertising
E) other things

Long term demo is the best way to determine if the equipment is an upgrade. You need to ride it a few times.

With Unifoil going Direct to Consumer this is a timely post. What should a foil company spend their budget on? Paying pro's? Ambassador program so local guys get demo kits for cheap. Supporting local shops? Hiring podcast hosts to do all their ad's for them so that they don't have to advertise anywhere else? I'm not sure I see the benefit in paying multiple pro's. Paying 1 big name rider is kind of necessary. Paying every female in the sport is an interesting tactic. Ambassador programs are just the "bro deals" that ruined the surf industry, so I don't want to see that in foiling. I think local shops is probably the best way. Whether that shop is 1.5 hours from my house, or in Michigan, or in Puerto Rico, having a shop who will quickly respond to an email and help me sort an issue, or give me an actual price of a product on their website seems to be the best course of action to me. What do you guys think?

What about just put all the money back into development and trying to make the foil gear good enough that it just does the talking.
If the company makes a little money then put a bit back in by helping with a few events or stuff along these lines.

We are DTC for 90% of the foil gear which really has good and bad I guess, we have no budget for riders not that I would really want to sponsor anyone anyway, I would rather help by making the gear cheaper at the checkout for all rather than free or cheap for a few and then having to increase the price to the average Joe to help cover some cool kids travel expenses, plus if I make enough I want to go to the cool spots myself

If we ever get a chance to hold some stock we plan to have demo kit that just gets posted around the place so people can try it out for a longer periods of time but not quite there yet as we have never been able to hold enough stock yet so this I think is a good idea.
Low over heads keep the quality of materials as high as possible, pay good money to get stuff made and avoid China where possible haha.
Good customer service as well and be easy to contact. Nothing worse than not being able to talk to someone real either by phone, email or even real old school and in person.

100% agree on the rider reviews, they are so predictable, not sure why you would bother.

Maybe some independent podcasts as well are pretty good, I don't listen to many myself but know quite a few people who do so guess this is not a bad way.

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paul.j said..
What about just put all the money back into development and trying to make the foil gear good enough that it just does the talking.
If the company makes a little money then put a bit back in by helping with a few events or stuff along these lines.

We are DTC for 90% of the foil gear which really has good and bad I guess, we have no budget for riders not that I would really want to sponsor anyone anyway, I would rather help by making the gear cheaper at the checkout for all rather than free or cheap for a few and then having to increase the price to the average Joe to help cover some cool kids travel expenses, plus if I make enough I want to go to the cool spots myself

If we ever get a chance to hold some stock we plan to have demo kit that just gets posted around the place so people can try it out for a longer periods of time but not quite there yet as we have never been able to hold enough stock yet so this I think is a good idea.
Low over heads keep the quality of materials as high as possible, pay good money to get stuff made and avoid China where possible haha.
Good customer service as well and be easy to contact. Nothing worse than not being able to talk to someone real either by phone, email or even real old school and in person.

100% agree on the rider reviews, they are so predictable, not sure why you would bother.

Maybe some independent podcasts as well are pretty good, I don't listen to many myself but know quite a few people who do so guess this is not a bad way.

If you get stock happy to be your west coast demo guy

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JJFoil said..
Not really sure why foil companies pay for advertising, just turns me off.

That's why "soft power" is so effective: instead of regular advertising or sponsoring, invest in things that will make your products appear "naturally" on beaches, videos, discussions...
... and a thousand way for people to have a positive image of your brand without being consciously aware of it.

But is tricky to do well, a mix of art and science. Plus the natural charisma of the public face of the brand.For instance, I was in awe with Mark Richards designs... without having ever ridden one :-)

Yeah the advertising and influencer over saturation in foiling is pretty gross and has been for a while.

We're playing in a sport/hobby that is a niche within a niche (a tiny market really) and realistically aside from maybe Kai, JJF and Laird (who are legit big names) any other influencers are just early adopters with an instagram account that are happy to sell their opinion for a discount.

I die a little inside each time I read or hear the word "GAMECHANGER" it's lost all gravity due to it's overuse.

As far as what get's my money. Part of it is simply doing a lot of research based on different sources (Opinions from 3rd party unsponsored riders I know) While applying existing knowledge of how a foil/board/wing etc should work based on it's design and assessing if that fits the gap in my quiver.

Most of it is being able to demo a variety of gear (which I understand is a bit of a luxury) A quick swap of a setup with a mate mid session has often been known to cost one of us money but more importantly I think as a rider you learn so much feeling the intricacies and differences between brands/models which fairly quickly focuses you on what suits you best personally.

Finally and this might upset the sometimes very consumeristic character that foiling seems to have taken on. Knowing that it is NOT simply the gear that makes the rider. The best investment you can make in getting better at foiling is to simply get out there and spending more time in the water practicing rather than chasing ability via credit card. Guys were absolutely ripping years ago on gear that wasn't anywhere near as easy to ride as most of the stuff we are lucky to already be on today, the ceiling of our existing gear is high!

Foiling is the game we are playing.

Every time i hear "game changer" I think we must be moving to something beyond foiling - perhaps actual flight ?

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hilly said..
Long term demo is the best way to determine if the equipment is an upgrade. You need to ride it a few times.

Aaah. Thanks for the replies. Feel better having replies to my gentle rant. Especially as it's not a thing that'll stop the earth turning. around here there are a few great reps from different brands who are generous and lend out new gear to be tried. Reckon that's a pretty sure fire way to get sales, build confidence in brands, people have a person they know of there are warranty issues rather than posting your delights off to some random address in the hope you get something back.
plus there's crew who get deals on foils that lend gear out. That's great too, not pushy, get to watch riders better than me ride them and try before buy.
there has only been one shop to sells foils in torquay and it's now closed, still operates online. Stonker were great. Several times I'd be after a particular tail or foil bot and they'd go find it.

other than that surf shops here couldn't show less interest in foiling of any kind. If I need things now I go to kite republic.
being down the coast in Victoria come and try days (outside of kite republic up in Melbourne) are virtually non-existent. big $$$$ for foils makes it hard to change to other brands without trying first. Id rather companies make gear available to try. Around here it's definitely what has sold gear, not paid ads

I totally agree! Your post has perfect timing.

I got some advice recently along the lines of "Ok Chris, your product is great and your customers love the support you offer. It's time to spend some money on your website and advertising so you can grow".

It's probably good advice, but I thought about this for a while and the idea of pushing out the typical advertising bullcr@p just made me feel ill. Anyway, these established companies produce bullcr@p with much more glitter in it than I could afford so I can't really compete.

For better or for worse I've decided to redirect what I would spend on advertising into a fleet of demo stabs which I will send to curious foilers around Australia. Here's to organic growth via word-of-mouth! (or staying the same size with my scruples intact)

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CrispFoils said..
I totally agree! Your post has perfect timing.

I got some advice recently along the lines of "Ok Chris, your product is great and your customers love the support you offer. It's time to spend some money on your website and advertising so you can grow".

It's probably good advice, but I thought about this for a while and the idea of pushing out the typical advertising bullcr@p just made me feel ill. Anyway, these established companies produce bullcr@p with much more glitter in it than I could afford so I can't really compete.

For better or for worse I've decided to redirect what I would spend on advertising into a fleet of demo stabs which I will send to curious foilers around Australia. Here's to organic growth via word-of-mouth! (or staying the same size with my scruples intact)

and you stayed truer than you needed to by not even including your website www.crispfoils.com/
look like fun tails. im about to buy flite.lab & flux. having been saving my dollars.
so many post market opportunities in foiling to adapt different companies products to work together plus stand alone pieces like your tails.
hard decisions..... what to outlay/forgo to get credible exposure & sales.
all the best with your business.