Honest Opinion Needed,Please!

Ok, this is for weekend warriors, industry insiders, people getting the hookup, hardcore riders, old timers, and newb's, basically any one into wakeboarding and who has seen the May issue of Wakeboarding Mag.

I would like your honest opinion of the add O'Brien ran in this issue. Don't hold back, did you see it, do you remember it, what did you think of it, did it send a message, good, bad, whatever, just let me know what you think. If you don't remember it or want to check it out again, it's on page 29.

Thanks,
jjakober

Can you post it up?

i like the thought, but it still felt a little cheesey, even more than they intended.

it reminds me of those moomba ads with the aboriginees. both could be better.

What Andy? An O'Brien move you don't know about?

I haven't had time to crack open a magazine in months. Do share please.

J-Rod, Hold up I saw it, I just wanted him to post it up for people who dont have the mag or have seen the ad.

I will scan it and post when I get home.

If it's the ad that I remember I wasn't very impressed. Sell the product, or the team. I thought that was a waste of time/money.

I HAVE THAT APEX!

Well first off it did it's job and it did it well, it caught your attention, so much that its posted on here. I have to praise them for that.

However I think the execution of the typography, starburst and the weak crop job of the rider is terrible. I probably took the designer all of 10 minutes and it definitely shows.

IMO they had a great idea but the aesthetics were poorly executed.

ehh... it's boarderline lame.

If the guys was mid fashion air with those shades on and some pink gloves, then we'd be getting somewhere. maybe an orange vest.

and I don't think it made it way on wakeworld by being exciting, catchy or memorable. I think its more of a focus group approach.. my .02

FYI: This was not intended to be an underhanded way of getting O'Brien exposure! That is why I didn't post the add. I would just like to know what you thought of it.

Thanks again, and keep the comments coming,
jjakober

for some reason that crop job must have been purposely done horrible to add some sort of effect or message that I'm missing or whatever. My 9 year old could do a better job than that.

Conceptually cool, poorly executed.

If they used the word "Gay" that would have spiced it up a bit.

Good one J-Rod, but definitely not "PC", I don't think they could pull that one off

J-Rod, my thoughts exactly.

Looks like some someone at O'brien thought the ad exec or agency had a great Idea for a mag ad. I could be wrong but i think the demos/age group is targeting the 30/40 group. the ad looks totally 80's to me....

With Sean O'brien doing massive double grabbed 7's I don't think O'BRIEN is going the right direction!

its so funny to look at that guy...those oaks he's rockin were PIMP back in the day

OAKLEY BLADES RULE!

(Message edited by andy_nintzel on April 16, 2008)

Regrettably I have to admit, I had a pair of Oakley's like that back in the day.

It catches your attention, gets the point across, did it's job. Like Matt G. said though the weak crop job is a little weird

I remember when it was called ski boading. Use to watch the Bud Knee and Ski boarding on ESPN HOT SUMMER NIGHTS!!!

his blades match his shorts. nice.
did you do the ad jjakober?
I dont think it looks all that great, but I think that is the exact look they were going for. sounds funny, but it makes people think about it.

I had no idea it was an O'brien ad until now. There wasn't anything that kept me on the page.

theres a difference between attention and exposure and then retention.

the ad does a good job at grabbing attention, which is an excellent thing, but it doesn't do a very good job at giving you o'brien and its products.

the ad needs to have something to cause the reader to recognize the brand and its products. i don't think this ad does a very good job in doing that.
just my opinion

I could care less, to me it doesn't stand out much in the existing sea of ads that is, Wakeboarding Magazine!

I had the bright orange Oakley Blades too.
The concept of the ad is different which is good, rather than just showing a product shot or an action shot of one of the team riders. Similar to what The Boarding School does with their ads there is some shock value to it. It probably could have been executed better by showing the entire old school photo rather than cropping out the guy.

Train,
NO!!!

i want a pair of those right now.

My Oakleys were Neon Green and they matched my neon green/pink Kidder waterskis shorts and windbreaker. Man the 80's were gay!

Not a big fan, it's actually kind of funny to me because o'brien was one of the "skiboarding" companies back in the day. I do remember seeing it the first time I flipped through the new issue though so I guess it got my attention.

on a side note, the new issue of wb mag is one of the best I've ever seen, lots of good stuff.

the apex was my first skiboard.

I am with the masses. Grabbed my attention, but no lasting image that it was an O'brien ad. It's like a great car commercial where you can't remember the brand at the end. You can remember the unique features, but nothing else. This is why companies pay big money to advertising firms.

Well, I think its in the ballpark of cool, but not quite there.

Thing is, print media is a dying thing. Adverising in print media is a waste of money. Look at the main complaint of subscribers-- too many freakin ads. Nobody buys anything based on ads in print media. Look at what peaks the interest of subscribers as far as gear goes. Its not the ads. Its the pics!! More people ask, "what boots is Watson wearing in this pic?" or what shorts is Harf wearing in that pic?" The photogs are what makes the mag go.

So, IMO if you are gonna make an ad, it should be clutter free, like this one, and a little edgy, like j-rod mentioned. Much more about the personality of the company and not about selling an item.

I agree with scott. it grabbed my attention but the first thing i thought was Obrien was a skiboarding company. The are still a ski company too. it sounded hypocritical to me.

but yes this issue is the best so far. the cover is nuts! great layots and content. im glad they are finally stepping up

Well my personal opinion coming from someone who has been around wakeboarding for a very long time and it isn't the advertising that is the problem, its the shapes of your high end boards. Honestly for the prices they are, there is no way I would buy one of these...

All of them look kind of odd to me as well, like a Walmart Hydroslide tip and tail. I can attest however to the Vahalla's strong riding attributes. Great board all around!

PS, the 2008 graphic screams out at you. I don't have to see but a millasecond of a picture with that board to know what it is, and it pops so well on the WBM spread of Sean O'brien doing that double grabbed 720.

Are you kidding Kyle,
since the introduction of the Player I think Obrien has had some of the best board shapes.
They just weren't marketed well.

I remeber seeing the pic and the quote and thought it was kind of funny but did not look at it long enough to see it was an obrien ad. i just passed it off for a random page, that's all.

It is different from your typical "look at our newest board and/or binding" ad, but i think i persoanally would rather have seen an ad on the new boots and/or flex line

What don't you like about them?

WBM is sweet, I read it through many times before the new issue comes out and I didn't really remember who was advertising there. I did however notice that the reef girl is not in this issue

and just to throw the gauntlet down:

jjakober, what do YOU think of this ad?

to me they just all look overshaped, im a firm believer in the less is more approach and these shapes just do not look appealing at all to me. The shape of the vice looks horrible, the natural looks like the old gb brisco which was the worst board ever, the second board looks ok, but the tip looks too narrow, kind of like a crunched shane. The valhalla without the side fins looks like it would be a pretty decent board but honestly that is the worst graphic i have ever seen...besides the vice which makes me want to vomit.

Jason G,
No gauntlet necessary...

The first time I heard about it I said it was stupid!

But, I am a tech/equipment/specs kinda guy so I like to see whats new and get the tech info about products and what makes them stand out, so this isn't my kind of ad!!

Now if you flip a couple of more pages I think there is a 2 page add for some rims or something and I really like that kind of ad also

Maybe Hahn can scan that one in, or at least the left page!!

Kyle,
How many different ways do you think you can design the tip/tail of a wakeboard?

(Message edited by jjakober on April 16, 2008)

Matthew Bird - I'm gonna have to agree with you. I definitely love my Player and I think O'Brien does have some pretty rad shapes out there. The Delta base also seems pretty cool and progressive.

At the same time though I agree that there's just something off about the boards that make them look like they aren't up to par with other major companies. Personally I think that it has more to do with graphics than shapes though. The Vice is the only board in the '08 lineup that I really like the graphics on. I know that graphics really don't matter at all, but if you're looking to drop around 500 bucks on a new board it should at least be one that you like the look of.

Personally I think they should be advertising innovations they're making (delta base, the way they designed their boots.. etc), like C-Dub does with their hinge-tech boots, so that people know that the products are quality, rather than running throwback ads that don't really tell people anything about the brand.

kyle, have you ridden any of those?

If a company really wanted to advertise their product with the hopes that someone would actually buy one, I wouldnt do an ad at all. I would buy a one page ad space, and create an article. You can be as biased as you want to be. Have someone like Murray sum up the process of designing his board. Or have expert designers, like Mr. Johnson, talk about what went into the build, not just the specs and cool acronyms to describe features.

Advertise your product with something people would like to see, instead of something people are annoyed at having to look at.

Jason G,
Thats a great idea, I would love to see something like that! Really getting behind the scene to see how and why something is designed the way it is. Both from a rider and designer point of view.

i have not, but i have ridden long enough to know what i think looks like a good board and what doesn't and i don't seem to be alone on this, I don't think I know or have even seen someone ride an o'brien except for watkins, sanders and dallas at odub

oh, I see.

It definitely caught my attention. I read it and didn't think much of it good or bad. However, I definitely didn't remember it being associated with Obrien.

i thought, "ok, so, old board, maybe they're trying to get me to not forget that o'brien has been around a long time...why haven't they had near the impact on the sport of companies that are also old(hyperlite) or very new companies (Ronix) or even middle-aged (LF-kinda)?" i continued and thought, "maybe they just don't have a big presence around TN... no... they probably just don't care as much about wakeboarding b/c they do a lot of other stuff... i remember when i got that o'brien airageous kneeboard, i felt so cool."

kyle, if you have ridden long enough, you should know that you can't judge how a board is going to ride by a picture in a magazine.

fun fact: the apex did share the graphics with an o'brien kneeboard of the same vintage.

I remember seeing the ad, but there was absolutely no connection that it was an O'Brien ad, and therefore I would say it was a failure.

its seems consumers/buyers do a lot of their own research. i.e. WW buyers guide plus the forums and prices on the web. i just picked up an 07 CWB Faction off Wakeside for 60% off. I based my decision on what WW Peps said, and my own personal preference: color, shape, fin set-up and rocker, plus all the reviews and the price was right. With that said, I believe O'brien boards does not receive as much exposure like the others Buzz/Review/Price. I just rode the faction and wow, low and behold the riders review was right on! I love this board. good pop but great soft landings....

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

By kyle (lfxstar) on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:39 am:

Well my personal opinion coming from someone who has been around wakeboarding for a very long time and it isn't the advertising that is the problem, its the shapes of your high end boards. Honestly for the prices they are, there is no way I would buy one of these.

AND

By Paul Bernier (wakeriderixi) on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:45 am:

All of them look kind of odd to me as well, like a Walmart Hydroslide tip and tail. I can attest however to the Vahalla's strong riding attributes. Great board all around!

Are you serious? Did you actually say that these look LIKE WALMART HYDROSLIDE BOARDS!!!!!!!! WHat the heck makes you say that about these boards? There is nothing walmart about them!

I liked it....retro 80's stuff seems to be getting cool again. I'm all about re-living those days.....well SOME of them!
More than that, with all the new board companies around these days, the ad quietly stated "Hey...we've been doing this for a while".

it would have been really easy to spin it toward innovation with another line at the bottom. But its just kinda incomplete.

Andy I alsmost bought one of your nattys just to give it a ride. No obrien dealers in my area. So I've got comments from you and JJakober in tandem with Kyle's sloppy 2d perspective to go off of! WIsh I would've taken the plunge! And yea, nothing Walmart about obrien's new line.

Tim, I've seen all their board in person many times at either performance or surfexpo's over the years.

i saw a slingshot board a few weeks ago. do i know how it rides????

what are you trying to start here nacho?

Just because you cannot look at a board and tell if it will ride well or not does not mean that I can't. One day maybe you will be able to but it looks like that day is pretty far down the road. A lot of the experienced riders on this site can immediately look at a board and know how it is going to feel, and by the rocker, how it is going to pop.
I'm sure if you showed guys like Joe or any of the other vets on here a board, and asked them what they thought about it, they would be able to come up with a pretty dead on opinion on how it is going to ride.
And to answer your question, yes i do know how a slingshot rides.

I THINK ITS REALLY WEAK OF OBRIEN.

DO THESE GUYS HAVE NO ORIGINALITY OR MARKETING CONCEPTS OF THEIR OWN? EVERY SINGLE SEASON..... BOARDS, PRODUCT NAMES AND ADVERTISING IDEAS ARE STOLEN FROM PEOPLE WITHIN THE SNOW AND SKATE INDUSTRY THAT ARE GREAT AT MARKETING.

I WAKEBOARD... I LOVE WAKEBOARDING BUT I THINK THE INDUSTRY HAS BECOME SO PLAYED OUT AND WEAK. ALWAYS STRUGGLING TO NOT SEEM "LAME" OR JUST STRAIGHT UP BEING LAME.

I AM NOT BITTER IN ANYWAY..... JUST SICK OF SEEING THE SAME •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

LOOK FAMILIAR????? PICK UP ANY SKATE MAG FROM THE PAST 4 YEARS.

I think They Should have done the opposite in the imagery. Instead of showing some crazy 80's guy [no offense if thats a WWer from way back when... ] They should have had an O'b board with dim lighting making it look revolutionary, this way it relates O'b to being advanced, what is displayed above is only saying O'b is just a little bit better. I DID however like the Hype ad that said R.O.A.M. in big red letters then said to provide kids the information they need to resist tubes and tubers as a D.A.R.E. spoof.

By Andy Nintzel (andy_nintzel) on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 1:50 pm:

AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

By kyle (lfxstar) on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:39 am:

Well my personal opinion coming from someone who has been around wakeboarding for a very long time and it isn't the advertising that is the problem, its the shapes of your high end boards. Honestly for the prices they are, there is no way I would buy one of these.

AND

By Paul Bernier (wakeriderixi) on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - 10:45 am:

All of them look kind of odd to me as well, like a Walmart Hydroslide tip and tail. I can attest however to the Vahalla's strong riding attributes. Great board all around!

Are you serious? Did you actually say that these look LIKE WALMART HYDROSLIDE BOARDS!!!!!!!! WHat the heck makes you say that about these boards? There is nothing walmart about them!

They look like they're stupid gimmicks that actually wont work, they provoke inquisition. I understand that all companies have gimmicks because its something that helps thier product stand out, I'm not a fan, however. I'm sorry that my honest opinion is so detrimental to a company that personally I've only ridden boards from thier low-end line, but I personally think that thats whats going on in the heads of other riders as well.

I think the add is weak.....just like their boards. I rode the obrien skyla for one week before the paper peeled off the bottom and left nothing but the white foam underneath. A month and a half and gallons of epoxy later the board snapped (I'm 100 lbs by the way). Sure, I do a lot of rail riding, but my previous hyperlite and LF boards have lasted MUCH longer than that. I think the add that's so cheaply put together is a good metaphor for how they make their boards.

I don't know about getting attention, but the add to me say's O'Brien is Antique, and for antique people..Which is totally not the case. The add is pretty sorry.

My goodness, there's a lot of negativity about O'Brien here.

Kyle, I agree that some people have the ability to look at a board and determine (more or less) how it's going to ride. However, based on your evaluation of the O'Brien boards pictured above, I'm not sure that you're one of them.

JJ. I dropped my subscription to Wakeboarding because it didn't seem to have any content I was interested in. That said I would have noticed that o'Brian ad amongst the multitude of flash and grung ads that fill it up. I guess that would accomplish the purpose. I'm definitely not hardcore.

okay tyler

i don't like o'brien boards cause their graphic design looks like it was done by a 5 year old.

Tyler if you know what a rocker is you can identify pretty close to how a board will ride. my goodness.

Oh young Trevor...there is so much more to how a wakeboard will ride then just the rocker line!

the ad caught my attention, and i think its kind of funny. but the thing i don't like about it is that that is the origination of the sport i love, so to me its kind of like making fun of your grandparents because they lived the depression. which is lame.

Sounds like kyle is ready for his own pro-model.

just joking.

I was at the 2008 Pan Am Championships in Miami last week. For the record the 08 Coda was seen on the Jr Women's podium in 1st place and the 08 Natural was seen on the Jr Men's podium in 3rd place. Nice job!!! Terri

This thread is officially dumb.