Buh-Bye, Volcom

FreshTopEnd
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FreshTopEnd 6/18/2013 7:56am
6/18/2013 7:56am
How's there business going? Seems like a pretty stacked industry chasing the group looking for that product.
Zaugg
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Zaugg 6/18/2013 8:07am
6/18/2013 8:07am
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types.

If you're a kid, teen, or young adult, you know all about Volcom. The pits and tracks are filled with boardsport brands and Volcom leaving now justifies another reason why outside sponsors shouldn't get involved in MX, especially because in the boardsport world, they were a standard setter and they tried to help change MX for the better.

It really is a shame that Volcom is leaving. Hopefully Vans, Etnies, DVS, Traxxas, Toyota, Specialized, GIant, etc, etc don't decide to leave as well.

Our sport needs non-moto brands and if you don't know why, you just don't get it.
Jt$
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Jt$ 6/18/2013 8:10am
6/18/2013 8:10am
Very popular brand, almost cult status in its loyalty among customers. I wasn't ever that excited about how it was marketed for SX though.. They had great teams and riders but as many here have said, they just fell into the abyss that is a podium speech. They co-branded gear with Thor which actually looked nice but I don't know how much they sold of it.
woody woodpecker 6/18/2013 8:15am
6/18/2013 8:15am Edited Date/Time 6/18/2013 8:18am
Zaugg wrote:
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types. If you're a...
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types.

If you're a kid, teen, or young adult, you know all about Volcom. The pits and tracks are filled with boardsport brands and Volcom leaving now justifies another reason why outside sponsors shouldn't get involved in MX, especially because in the boardsport world, they were a standard setter and they tried to help change MX for the better.

It really is a shame that Volcom is leaving. Hopefully Vans, Etnies, DVS, Traxxas, Toyota, Specialized, GIant, etc, etc don't decide to leave as well.

Our sport needs non-moto brands and if you don't know why, you just don't get it.
^ This, I assumed everyone knew about Volcom, but maybe not so much the older dudes. When I hear Volcom, I think skate/surf etc, I don't think they ever really found their place in moto.

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Zoom
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Zoom 6/18/2013 8:16am
6/18/2013 8:16am
Riders don't get fined for not saying a sponsor on the podium.

But, they do receive bonuses for mentioning a sponsor on the podium,
newmann
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newmann 6/18/2013 8:21am
6/18/2013 8:21am
My kids have Volcom caps and shirts but I will agree that their marketing approach in motocross was pretty lame. As many have pointed out in this thread, the brand went virtually unnoticed while spending who knows how much money. Whoever was in charge of spending those dollars should have been on top of it. Their fault, not mine....
Xeno
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Xeno 6/18/2013 8:28am
6/18/2013 8:28am
Volcom definitely was noticed in MX. Like Gibby stated, their mascot bum-rushed Wilson on the podium at the Pala national.
TerryB
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TerryB 6/18/2013 8:29am
6/18/2013 8:29am
Zaugg wrote:
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types. If you're a...
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types.

If you're a kid, teen, or young adult, you know all about Volcom. The pits and tracks are filled with boardsport brands and Volcom leaving now justifies another reason why outside sponsors shouldn't get involved in MX, especially because in the boardsport world, they were a standard setter and they tried to help change MX for the better.

It really is a shame that Volcom is leaving. Hopefully Vans, Etnies, DVS, Traxxas, Toyota, Specialized, GIant, etc, etc don't decide to leave as well.

Our sport needs non-moto brands and if you don't know why, you just don't get it.
Wrong.

We know the sport needs outside money and welcome it. It's not the consumers fault when a sponsor fails to market themselves properly.

I read motozines and surf many motorcycle related message boards. I have yet to see any of their products marketed. The Thor gear doesn't count, as Monster, Rockstar, etc have gear too. It tells us nothing about "their" product. What do you make? What do you sell? What's your deal? Who knows! All we know is that they pay RV to thank them on the podium. That does not motivate me to "research" what Volcom is allabout.

Oh, and their logo looked like the "art" an illiterate kid scrawls on his notebook during Civics class.

Poor marketing.
Underdog999
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Underdog999 6/18/2013 8:34am
6/18/2013 8:34am
Zaugg wrote:
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types. If you're a...
Most people who don't know about Volcom are probably the older, "I love 2 strokes-change is bad-stay out of my sport" older types.

If you're a kid, teen, or young adult, you know all about Volcom. The pits and tracks are filled with boardsport brands and Volcom leaving now justifies another reason why outside sponsors shouldn't get involved in MX, especially because in the boardsport world, they were a standard setter and they tried to help change MX for the better.

It really is a shame that Volcom is leaving. Hopefully Vans, Etnies, DVS, Traxxas, Toyota, Specialized, GIant, etc, etc don't decide to leave as well.

Our sport needs non-moto brands and if you don't know why, you just don't get it.
TerryB wrote:
Wrong. We know the sport needs outside money and welcome it. It's not the consumers fault when a sponsor fails to market themselves properly. I read...
Wrong.

We know the sport needs outside money and welcome it. It's not the consumers fault when a sponsor fails to market themselves properly.

I read motozines and surf many motorcycle related message boards. I have yet to see any of their products marketed. The Thor gear doesn't count, as Monster, Rockstar, etc have gear too. It tells us nothing about "their" product. What do you make? What do you sell? What's your deal? Who knows! All we know is that they pay RV to thank them on the podium. That does not motivate me to "research" what Volcom is allabout.

Oh, and their logo looked like the "art" an illiterate kid scrawls on his notebook during Civics class.

Poor marketing.
Volcom is all over the place in surf magazines...maybe you aren't looking in the right places because you aren't the target market!
FLmxer
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FLmxer 6/18/2013 8:35am
6/18/2013 8:35am
Hey hey we older guys wore Volcom first. Ha Most all of my 40 year old friends know what Volcom is and have some kind of thier clothing but we all surf. Also it has had a 2 page spread in the first pages of the mags for ever mostly with RV whipping it so it is surprising.
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JOHN CHOATE 6/18/2013 8:36am
6/18/2013 8:36am
For the past several years, Volcom had a cool setup down by the beach area at Loretta's. My kids dig it but I must admit, if it wasn't for their setup at LL's, I wouldn't have known what they were about either. Sorry to see them go.
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GrapeApe 6/18/2013 8:39am
6/18/2013 8:39am
I thought Volcom's marketing was great, particularly the early Tagger lids worn by Durham. I think those helmets kick started the trend back towards custom painted helmets and loud colors - both of which I dig being a product of the late 80's - early 90's. I'm probably too old to be in their target market now and I'm not a consumer of their products, but you would have to be blind not to notice their presence in moto. I will agree the dipshit in the Volcom inflatable that accosted Baggett on the podium was lame.


woody woodpecker 6/18/2013 8:44am
6/18/2013 8:44am
TerryB wrote:
Wrong. We know the sport needs outside money and welcome it. It's not the consumers fault when a sponsor fails to market themselves properly. I read...
Wrong.

We know the sport needs outside money and welcome it. It's not the consumers fault when a sponsor fails to market themselves properly.

I read motozines and surf many motorcycle related message boards. I have yet to see any of their products marketed. The Thor gear doesn't count, as Monster, Rockstar, etc have gear too. It tells us nothing about "their" product. What do you make? What do you sell? What's your deal? Who knows! All we know is that they pay RV to thank them on the podium. That does not motivate me to "research" what Volcom is allabout.

Oh, and their logo looked like the "art" an illiterate kid scrawls on his notebook during Civics class.

Poor marketing.
Obviously their marketing doesn't appeal to you, you're not their target audience. Young guys know about them. Even if you did know about their product, you probably wouldn't buy it.

Also their logo works very well with the brand, but of course you wouldn't know that because you don't know anything about them...
APLMAN99
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APLMAN99 6/18/2013 8:50am
6/18/2013 8:50am
I noticed the Volcom ads pretty well, but maybe that's just because I was already aware of the company.

My 17yo son has been getting lots of free stuff from them for several years now from the local snow sport reps. He's not a great rider or anything, but he's really respectful and thankful for what they have given him so every camp or competition he runs ino them at, he seems to get loaded up with lots of goodies. One spring camp he came home with a bunch of the "prototype" stuff where they were testing different colors and such. All the coats, pants, and gloves had the tags sewn in with "not for sale" on them. He'll probably keep that stuff forever, they made him feel almost like a sponsored athlete.
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mgifracing 6/18/2013 9:35am
6/18/2013 9:35am
Zoom pretty much nailed it. Side x sides and Dual sports are the only segment in a dealership that are growing. When the after market sees the trends that's what they are going to go after. I've been kinda peeved at Thor and Volcom for the last 3 years for not throwing out any RV championship stuff. Try to find a pair of his(RV) signature Vans, It's like they made 10 pairs or something. (I almost felt like the noob fanboy there.)
peelout
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peelout 6/18/2013 9:39am
6/18/2013 9:39am
too bad, Volcom is about as cool of a brand as it gets. they're core extreme sports people and their products are flashy but not over-done.
TerryB
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TerryB 6/18/2013 9:44am
6/18/2013 9:44am Edited Date/Time 6/18/2013 9:48am
woody woodpecker wrote:
Obviously their marketing doesn't appeal to you, you're not their target audience. Young guys know about them. Even if you did know about their product, you...
Obviously their marketing doesn't appeal to you, you're not their target audience. Young guys know about them. Even if you did know about their product, you probably wouldn't buy it.

Also their logo works very well with the brand, but of course you wouldn't know that because you don't know anything about them...
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as much as I do (remember, you are trying to market yourself to the MX crowd right?), doesn't know what you do. I might be older? Well, I might have kids that need to be clothed. Who do you think is going to buy them?

I assumed they might be a "communications" company: a hip sounding cellular company like "Boost-Mobile"? Many of the smaller ones are regional, and they're not in my region? Sounds plausible, but I didn't really know, and it sounds like a lot of other guys, (who might follow the sport as closely as I do), didn't know either.

That is a poorly marketed product.
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GrapeApe 6/18/2013 9:53am
6/18/2013 9:53am Edited Date/Time 6/18/2013 9:56am
TerryB wrote:
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as...
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as much as I do (remember, you are trying to market yourself to the MX crowd right?), doesn't know what you do. I might be older? Well, I might have kids that need to be clothed. Who do you think is going to buy them?

I assumed they might be a "communications" company: a hip sounding cellular company like "Boost-Mobile"? Many of the smaller ones are regional, and they're not in my region? Sounds plausible, but I didn't really know, and it sounds like a lot of other guys, (who might follow the sport as closely as I do), didn't know either.

That is a poorly marketed product.
Marketing is about getting the brand out there, and they were successful at that. What do you want them to do, have a dozen or so skaters walking around the PC team truck in their latest tank tops? Have Tagger paint the new Spring collection line of board shorts on Durham's helmet? No, you just want to get that logo out there and burned into peoples' conscious. Just like the Fox head or any other iconic logo.

Again, I have no idea how I have ended up in the position of somehow defending Volcom. I'm just shocked that anyone that actually follows motocross hasn't noticed their branding/marketing.

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NV825
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NV825 6/18/2013 9:57am
6/18/2013 9:57am
Sad to see them go, but I'll still be a big supporter of Volcom. I love their clothes except some can be a bit over the edge in flashy so I don't buy those.

I think all of you who said you've never noticed their marketing are just jaded to advertising. I've seen Volcom videos (both full length vids of RV testing SX and short intro pre-roll ads), site takeovers, banner ads, etc. all over MX sites. I could see why pulling out of MX advertising could be beneficial though. Almost every single brand involved in MX has a casual line and the entire market size just doesn't justify the cost when you compare it to board sports who each have a HUGE following world wide.
Underdog999
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Underdog999 6/18/2013 10:14am
6/18/2013 10:14am
woody woodpecker wrote:
Obviously their marketing doesn't appeal to you, you're not their target audience. Young guys know about them. Even if you did know about their product, you...
Obviously their marketing doesn't appeal to you, you're not their target audience. Young guys know about them. Even if you did know about their product, you probably wouldn't buy it.

Also their logo works very well with the brand, but of course you wouldn't know that because you don't know anything about them...
TerryB wrote:
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as...
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as much as I do (remember, you are trying to market yourself to the MX crowd right?), doesn't know what you do. I might be older? Well, I might have kids that need to be clothed. Who do you think is going to buy them?

I assumed they might be a "communications" company: a hip sounding cellular company like "Boost-Mobile"? Many of the smaller ones are regional, and they're not in my region? Sounds plausible, but I didn't really know, and it sounds like a lot of other guys, (who might follow the sport as closely as I do), didn't know either.

That is a poorly marketed product.
As I stated above, you are not the target market.

I agree with Woody too.

You don't' know who they are because you don't pay attention to what they want you to pay attention to.

So, they marketed quite well it seems. They wouldn't want someone like you wearing their product. If you did, it wouldn't be cool any longer! Woohoo
woody woodpecker 6/18/2013 10:27am
6/18/2013 10:27am
TerryB wrote:
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as...
You must work for their marketing department if you don't see that they have not marketed their product properly if, a guy who follows MXSX as much as I do (remember, you are trying to market yourself to the MX crowd right?), doesn't know what you do. I might be older? Well, I might have kids that need to be clothed. Who do you think is going to buy them?

I assumed they might be a "communications" company: a hip sounding cellular company like "Boost-Mobile"? Many of the smaller ones are regional, and they're not in my region? Sounds plausible, but I didn't really know, and it sounds like a lot of other guys, (who might follow the sport as closely as I do), didn't know either.

That is a poorly marketed product.
They are a hugely successful company, they don't need blatant advertising of their product for people to "get" them. A LOT of people, a majority in fact, know what they're about. Even still, you can see adverts with Villopoto wearing a Volcom t-shirt etc, you obviously didn't pay enough attention. So I still don't agree that they had poor marketing, and I'm sure that's not the reason they have to pull out of MX.
Ozzy
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Ozzy 6/18/2013 10:38am
6/18/2013 10:38am
As with anything, at least for me, the more the merrier!
For me, there's certainly the business side 1st.
It has to make sense and has to work.
You always welcome new blood so to speak, as they usually may lead to others and so on.
For me regardless of what it may be, Sponsors do come and go for various reasons.
Some return, some never do!
However, to bash is what it is I'm afraid.
Sponsors do make many sports fly and grow.
We need them.
Think before you bash is all I'm saying.
Who knows, for as soon as 1 leaves they might return or the tide may bring in another.
lostboy819
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lostboy819 6/18/2013 10:57am
6/18/2013 10:57am
P wrote:
I had no idea what Volcom was, what they did, or that they sponsored a rider in MX.


P
X2 It sucks getting old as I had no idea what Volcom was until I googled it and it turns out its just another gay "extreme" sports apparel company , not that there's anything wrong with that.Pinch
gnarwhip
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gnarwhip 6/18/2013 11:00am
6/18/2013 11:00am
People are finally realizing that paying $30 for a tshirt and $60 for a hoodie with a "core" logo is ridiculous
lostboy819
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lostboy819 6/18/2013 11:02am
6/18/2013 11:02am Edited Date/Time 6/18/2013 11:08am
Ozzy wrote:
As with anything, at least for me, the more the merrier! For me, there's certainly the business side 1st. It has to make sense and has...
As with anything, at least for me, the more the merrier!
For me, there's certainly the business side 1st.
It has to make sense and has to work.
You always welcome new blood so to speak, as they usually may lead to others and so on.
For me regardless of what it may be, Sponsors do come and go for various reasons.
Some return, some never do!
However, to bash is what it is I'm afraid.
Sponsors do make many sports fly and grow.
We need them.
Think before you bash is all I'm saying.
Who knows, for as soon as 1 leaves they might return or the tide may bring in another.
Doh.
Camp332
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Camp332 6/18/2013 11:04am
6/18/2013 11:04am
I've been a Volcom supporter way before they got into moto. Back when I was a hardcore skateboarder, this Volcom video "Freedom Wig" dropped. Serious skateboarding, and I'd like to thank them for giving me Black Sabbath Supernaut as my all time favorite Sabbath song @:40 into it. As a 30+ moto rider/racer, and 30+ mini ramp skater, I'll still be supporting Volcom.

NV825
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NV825 6/18/2013 11:06am
6/18/2013 11:06am
gnarwhip wrote:
People are finally realizing that paying $30 for a tshirt and $60 for a hoodie with a "core" logo is ridiculous
I usually only shop their outlet stores and stuff that is on sale, and get shirts for under $10, pants and sweaters from $20-30. I wouldn't pay full retail price for not just their stuff, but almost any apparel I buy.
Sandberm
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Sandberm 6/18/2013 11:27am
6/18/2013 11:27am
Is Myplash going to be around next year? What kind of advertising and brand awareness did they do at SX this year? Did they give out there credit cards to young people? Just curious
COAL-TRAIN
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COAL-TRAIN 6/18/2013 11:30am
6/18/2013 11:30am
P wrote:
I had no idea what Volcom was, what they did, or that they sponsored a rider in MX.


P
lostboy819 wrote:
X2 It sucks getting old as I had no idea what Volcom was until I googled it and it turns out its just another gay "extreme"...
X2 It sucks getting old as I had no idea what Volcom was until I googled it and it turns out its just another gay "extreme" sports apparel company , not that there's anything wrong with that.Pinch
Volcom is an awesome company. Only thing gay is you!
I can tell you the Volcom guys are good people who invested in our sport. I do business w them so I know.
I also grew up around the corner from the HB Volcom house when they were only known locally. They would let us lil punks cruise there parties every time and were cool as could be. Live bands playing in the middle of a skate ramp in a garage all the time 20 years ago.
Anyone who has anything bad to say about that company dosnt know them.
Thanks Volcom and Troy Powell for your effort in moto...most of us appriciate it and it didn't go unnoticed Smile

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