Or do the product marketeers just think we are? From the Future Fins site:
“The latest in a long line of successful leaps in fin evolution. The Scimitar is a constant varible[sic] plane fin, based on a variable algorithm.”
WTF? Were they really trying to express a fluid dynamic concept in layman’s terms and failed miserably or did they think that an oxymoron and a scientific sounding phrase that has no real meaning would impress us simple folk?
They sound kind of cool though. Maybe I’ll get a pair.
found myself on the futures website a few days ago and read the exact same thing. don’t recall what brought me there in the first place, but i had exactly the same reaction when i read that line of b.s. and to answer your question…yes…people really are that dumb…and will not only buy into it, but will parrot it to their friends when explaining to them how their new fins are the best fins ever created.
…He got an ‘A’ in spieling but unfortuneately, an ’ F ’ in spelling.
If I was lucky enough to have my own website I think Id proof read it, just in case someone else might read it. Its not like theres money riding on it or anything serious like that !
Does anyone have an explanation of the varible algorithm, and what it does? Or was I meant to know already? I feel kinda dumb that I dont know.
Over to the fin-kings…
Quote:
I think they just hired some college boy with a degree
I suppose with the continual replenishment of their target demographic( 6-25 y.o.), the big surf companies can drag out the same old, " youre the best, your time is now, go hard and we’re with you all the way’ tripe and each year theres a hoard of inexperienced consumers willing to follow the guidance of the polished spruikers.
But with the focus on ’ their responsibility to the shareholders ',( read dollars) the ‘big end of town’ surf management has to increase market share by increasing the number of new customers rather than retain the existing ones.
Why?
Because the existing ones didnt return with their increasing pay packets.
Why?
Because they didnt mean what they said back in the 70’s/80’s/90’s,they didnt maintain their appeal to us, they didnt come with us on our journey in life.
At 40 ,how does the local surfshop/ latest magazine make you feel?..old?,same here, and now Id rather buy Patagonia and believe in their ideals than buy a bigger brand that makes me feel old.
And that, will come back and bite them in the arse as the world-wide population both ages and matures.
Funny that we all have a favourite car manufacturer…why not surf clothing, what happened there I wonder…
Maybe there’ll soon be a Quicksilver “Seniors” range of ‘ghetto dog’ incontinence pads?
And I may be wrong, (god forbid that ever happens,) but at least I can spell betterer than the work experience kid at Future Fins Marketing Division.
They might mean that the ‘plane’ of the fin varies, but that the rate of change of the variation is constant, or the rate of change of the rate of change is constant. An easier way of describing it would be “smooth”, or “really smooth”.
It’s just a flexing fin that works like sailboard sail. More power? the profile twists with the aim of optimizing the aoa with respect to the flow. They worded it like morons. It’s a flexible fin, that’s all.
EDIT: Psycho, you want it hard and long? Like big and red? Steady in the chop? Try this:
whereas for your evening Amsterdam sessions , you’d probably be better served with a good angle of attack RIGID single fin , wouldn’t you , Surfer Dave ??
So the question is… what makes surfers buy stuff ?
‘Futures’ obviously thinks its techo-babble bullshit, ( poorly explained and with typo errors) Duh!
Or …
Is it the “drugs,sex,alcohol, music, skull tattoos and Im a big he-man” pitch to boys and young adults,like in Tracks magazine ???
Or…The relaxed, self- confident ‘everyman- style’ aimed at 30’s + surfers,like The Surfers Journal???
"Or a bit of an each way bet like on the FCS website??
Of course each of us will see it differently, but which marketing would you say makes a surfer decide to buy?
Id say its the drugs and tats approach because its so prevalent in our media…if it wasnt working they wouldnt do it, right ???
Or is that just the lowest common denominator approach ?
“Spuuut”----“Rock on” !
It’s very difficult to prove a cause-and-effect between marketing and changes in sales. Correlation <> cause. So you have advertising reps marketing marketing to sales types, who are almost by definition moved more by intuition than logic. Bottom line is that there is an awful lot of “poke and hope” involved in product marketing and advertising. But to answer the question, yes, many surfers are dumb enough to believe anything, particular if it is crafted to make them feel “cool”…
They might mean that the ‘plane’ of the fin varies, but that the rate of change of the variation is constant, or the rate of change of the rate of change is constant. An easier way of describing it would be “smooth”, or “really smooth”.
There’s a slightly easier way to describe what you are describing. The word is “arc”.
You know, if you had a real pic of yourself in your avatar, and it looked anything like the cartoon that avatar, people might respond to you. I say “might.” The erBB might be a better fit for you. Geddit? Punny, eh?
Quote:
“It’s a flexible fin, that’s all.”
whereas for your evening Amsterdam sessions , you’d probably be better served with a good angle of attack RIGID single fin , wouldn’t you , Surfer Dave ??