Topic: Good Gear Guide 2018 (Read 7639 times)

billyb · « **on:** February 21, 2018, 10:34:48 AM »

Nice to see a Salix doing well! Viking the other contender.
Not as much from forum sponsors this year, but Kippax are in there!

http://www.thecricketer.com/Topics/features/the_cricketer_good_gear_guide_2018_we_test_the_latest_bats_on_the_market.html

Alvaro · « **Reply #1 on:** February 21, 2018, 10:52:05 AM »

The Kahuna 600 is the perfect weight for @smilley792

richthekeeper · « **Reply #2 on:** February 21, 2018, 11:09:52 AM »

Bit of a nonsense test considering all the bats were stickered up...

Neon Cricket · « **Reply #3 on:** February 21, 2018, 01:32:41 PM »

Quote from: richthekeeper on February 21, 2018, 11:09:52 AM

Bit of a nonsense test considering all the bats were stickered up...

And considering the smaller brands pay for the �privilege� of being tested. Never seen the point in having to pay for a bat to be tested, obviously completely bias to the design etc.

The Wisden test is coming up soon, at least that one is a blank test so about as unbiased as a cricket test can be

Kulli · « **Reply #4 on:** February 21, 2018, 01:35:48 PM »

Magazines are the wrong people to be doing these, as the scoring here shows, they can't slate anyone because they're all potential advertising revenues.

Say a forum would be the best people to run one, but obviously then not many people would send in bats as there's no exposure afterwards for the results.

justnotcricket86 · « **Reply #5 on:** February 21, 2018, 01:45:31 PM »

Custom Bats Form Gear Test - Sponsored by Wisden.

Problem solved

Tom · « **Reply #6 on:** February 21, 2018, 02:14:13 PM »

" Each of the bats were given about 20 throw downs"

How can you judge a bat on 20 throwdowns?

mattw · « **Reply #7 on:** February 21, 2018, 02:17:32 PM »

Slightly off topic, but a good cricket blog is what the industry needs.

I know a few people have dabbled with creating a cricket gear blog - however I still feel there is a great opportunity for someone to do this on a much larger/longer scale. If I wasn't involved with a brand, this is something that I would be looking to do as I'm sure there would be some major benefits of doing this for your own personal gain if done correctly.

I believe customers are getting more savvy by the day and understand that magazines are likely to rate companies higher who spend money on advertising in their magazines, so having a blog and stating real opinions would certainly have a lot of influence in helping younger consumers make their choice in purchasing kit (due to the demographic that it's likely to appeal to) rather than reading the same old marketing spiel. It would take a lot of time and effort to start something like this and you'll grain trust from the consumer the longer that you pursue it. I'd rather use influencers/bloggers to help promote my own brand rather than pay to be in the magazines as it's something that's expensive to do (and hard to track the return on the spend, from a physical ad in a magazine) for smaller brands - so if I'm thinking that, then I'm sure there are other brands are screaming out for something like this too.

The cricket industry as a whole seem to be slow to adapting to new forms of media/advertising - as it's taken a while for most brands to have responsive and eCommerce websites and it seems that pretty much every other industry has some form of bloggers/influencers and it's just waiting for someone in the cricketing world to do this properly.

billyb · « **Reply #8 on:** February 21, 2018, 02:23:15 PM »

Excellent post, @mattw. I've considered something similar.
I note that the We Coach Cricket YouTube channel has some kind of deal with Newbery - and I really wouldn't have considered using one before seeing them use them. Influencer marketing works!

edge · « **Reply #9 on:** February 21, 2018, 02:45:40 PM »

It's a decent point, with a lot of other markets Youtube reviews are massive with companies sending out kit to reviewers right left and centre or even some crowdfunded. It'll happen sooner or later in cricket you'd imagine, but presumably the hard thing for your blogger/youtuber is the jump from the point of starting out to the point where you've got enough of an audience that you get free kit sent to you.

mattw · « **Reply #10 on:** February 21, 2018, 03:53:36 PM »

Quote from: DorsetDan on February 21, 2018, 02:39:27 PM

The problem with bloggers in a reviewing sense is they have their own bias and I think people see that

I suppose the other argument against is the risk of sending something to a completely independent reviewer is receiving a bad review or even slightly negative/ average comment so why take that risk when the norm works ok(ish)

There are brands on this forum who have done what you suggest with "influencers" and I think that was received very well, though it is hard to expand to the wider range of potential customers. The reason I say that is that if we are really honest kit doesn't really vary that much compared to other industries and it is a saturated market of everyone doing things pretty much the same and the average cricket consumer isn't really missing much by buying whatever looks nice, nor does the average buyer think about buying a bat or kit more than walking in to their local sports shop and going for whatever they like the look of.

I like @sarg 's video reviews for honest thoughts and subtle differences between a wide range of bats though that is a bit too geeky CBF for most

I agree, Sarg's content is good and that's probably the best out there at the moment.

I did enjoy the Cricket Insight content when that was going strong and there was a gear test then, which at that point I was involved with Vantage and the lithium bat won an award for the best performer on the day. Whilst I completely get that it's a saturated market and the majority of products are fairly similar, this will make brands put more effort in when designing kit etc. Not only that, there is much more to judge a product on than the product itself - customer service, ease of purchasing, information with the product, packaging and so on.

Regarding bloggers/influencers benefiting from something like this - there is much more than just receiving free kit to review, such as being paid every time someone clicks on a referral link, influencing a customer to purchase, having paid for advertising banners on their website etc. Whilst this is stepping in to the same territory of the magazines, there will be a fine-line of when it (hopefully) goes from being a hobby, to a full-time and profitable job. So different to the magazines that seem to have to please everyone - the blog(s) should have their own voice and their own personality and as they are a real person/voice - they will have their own opinions on what they do and do not like, otherwise they will be the same as the magazines and therefore become pointless/irrelivent.

mattw · « **Reply #11 on:** February 21, 2018, 04:00:01 PM »

Quote from: edge on February 21, 2018, 02:45:40 PM

It's a decent point, with a lot of other markets Youtube reviews are massive with companies sending out kit to reviewers right left and centre or even some crowdfunded. It'll happen sooner or later in cricket you'd imagine, but presumably the hard thing for your blogger/youtuber is the jump from the point of starting out to the point where you've got enough of an audience that you get free kit sent to you.

Yeah I agree, you can't expect to see something from it originally and I believe the aim should be to review your mates kit, start small as a hobby and then opportunities will arise - however I would say that it's important to have a website. Where you can write blogs and content for SEO - then overtime more and more people will start to trust the blog as it gets bigger, the content improves, they start to find their niche etc. Then brands will be wanting to send free kit, or work out other agreements such as paying for click-throughs from the website, a referral that leads to a sale and so on.

Ultimately, it's not going to be something that you're going to see a return from in the early days, but the longer it continues the more you could potentially expect from it. One thing I would state to anyone who's going to be doing this, is to write blogs and create new content regularly but most important to find a niche or your interest and stay consistent with that rather than trying to do everything.

Tom · « **Reply #12 on:** February 21, 2018, 04:10:02 PM »

One problem with cricket equipment, versus say football boots is that cricket equipment is released once a year. So your blog has loads of content in September, but come March and the season starting you're really struggling. Football has multiple drops throughout a year, which keeps it interesting.

WalkingWicket37 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 21, 2018, 04:14:49 PM »

Quote from: Kulli on February 21, 2018, 01:35:48 PM

Magazines are the wrong people to be doing these, as the scoring here shows, they can't slate anyone because they're all potential advertising revenues.

Without wanting to stir the pot, the write up next to the Kippax Problade was fairly scathing:

Quote

Oh dear. "Horrible. Unless you absolutely nail it, it feels like concrete," says Simon, although he does say "the balance is quite good".
Chris is equally unimpressed. "Unbelievably hard - my hands are ringing." It is worth pointing out that Chris' other job is operating a pneumatic drill, but still. He does say, however: "The middle is OK."
At least Alex is more kind. "There's a bit of a ping to it, but exceeded my expectations, and you don't have to hit it that hard..."

Yet it was still given a score of 8.2/10

The score seems rather high compared to what was said, doesn't it?

The Cricket Boutique · « **Reply #14 on:** February 21, 2018, 04:35:05 PM »

Quote from: Neon Cricket on February 21, 2018, 01:32:41 PM

And considering the smaller brands pay for the �privilege� of being tested.

Hello. I'm not sure that is strictly true.

It's also not all just through Owzat, the boutique section is not through them as far as I am aware.

There are some strange scores that don't seem to fit with the text.

Author Topic: Good Gear Guide 2018 (Read 7639 times)

billyb

Good Gear Guide 2018

Alvaro

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richthekeeper

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Neon Cricket

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Kulli

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justnotcricket86

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Tom

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mattw

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billyb

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edge

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mattw

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mattw

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Tom

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WalkingWicket37

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The Cricket Boutique

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