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[Ayrtek Cricket]

I never said all bigger brands were quality as we all know the balance between quality and quantity swings at some point when volume is more attractive than each bat being top notch.

the forum is a very small sector of the cricket market which is elitist to cricket kit lovers and doesnt represent the general market. People who play top level cricket in Bristol would use bats by the big brands by walking int oGlobe Sports and picking out off the shelf as they wouldnt have heard of SAF, Redback, Talisman etc etc unless they came on here and were made aware of them.

[procricket]

so it exposure then and a reputation......

it funny i not going to name the store but i went in there looked at bats and all i got was so and so uses them i can see why youngsters with the parents do it...

but i suspect more and more brands are going to pop up and put these supermarkets out of buisness

[Ayrtek Cricket]

i think the sales rep in the shops would have a contributing factor to what was sold if it was done properly...kind of like buying some golf club where your game is taken into consideration rather than walking in and saying i want what tiger woods uses.

these may not suit ur game but its what u have been marketed be it consciously or self-consiously. really they shoudl ask what type of player u are and recommend what bat would suit your game etc in terms of middle etc

where as the brands on here are going to offer a more personal service to the customers and ensure they get the best possible bat suited to them

[Washington]

I think what you have mentioned there Dave, the hype of the Ashes, is exactly my point! What i was asking was what makes a brand a successful brand i.e one that sells kit year on year over a number of decades, not one summer as was the case with WoodWorm.

As you and Tom have touched on GN, GM etc are not always the best in terms of quality but what they lack in that compartment, no one will doubt that there after care service is second bar none. I think to the general or mass cricket community this is what counts.

Those of us on here are obviously like to dig a bit deeper and find that something a bit special/unique/different

[Tumo]

The thing is, your average sports shop does not have a 'specialist cricket sales assistant' thingy. Therefore nobody can really give you an idea of what's good for you in the sports shop if they don't know themselves. They may say "you need one this big" to a kid, whilst looking on a wallchart to see, and they may point you to one that might look nice or be more expensive, but they can't really give you any details on it. It also doesn't help that my local sports shop stocks Kookaburra, Adidas, GM, GN, and... Well, a couple of Puma bats. And nothing else...

[Talisman]

Cricket brands are splitting in my opinion, you will have a divide between the global brands who are looking to steamroller their way into the cricket market and dominate as they do in most other sporting areas. Then you will have the high end brands who are much smaller but with super service and a high brow following, some of these will survive by being regional.

Adidas and Puma are now in full flow, Nike are looking big and are going to make it hard to ignore them, Reebok are in India but may not be seen here due to being part of Adidas. The figures they have to sponosr players will squeeze the cricket only brands hard, GM, GN and Kooaburra are doing well but will be hit, the younger kids are growing up with big brand exposure and will not be likely to swap over to similar products without the same exposure. Slazenger are Hunts are nearly basement brands due to their slide to me. Duncan Fearnley are dead as a big brand, strictly local and in the same boat with other small brands such as Kippax, Chase et al who are not in all the shops so will have to become local hero's. M&H, Salix and Newbery are there with reputation but not quite size to fight big brands.

The sales increases demanded by the new mainstream brands and also the masses of start up brands will have to come from somewhere, someone will slide and that slide may not stop. We have seen Mongoose, Piri Piri, Boom Boom, Vantage and others come in other the last 2 years and aim for national status, as in all areas of life some will succeed and some will fail. Those who can predict the results should play the lottery....

[Watsontotty]

What makes a company successful can be judged in so many ways however the fundamentals are the same in terms of nett Profit. You also need to calculate what a brands aspiration's are as Puma and say Choice are polls apart in terms of their aspiration's and the nett profit. Advertising, Sponsorship, market awareness are all major players in any companies strategy and that's before you look at the quality of their goods. You will see some major companies have slipped down the order of merit and you look and ask why ? in my opinion its down to miss management and they have taking their eyes off the game.

Any companies must have a goal which they are working towards and a strategy of how they will reach their goals but the most important thing is that once your goals are reached they are re evaluated and new ones set so the company and brand can continue to grow develop and expand. We are all aware of the new brands like Nike and Adidas etc and they come with massive sponsorship deals and massive advertising budgets so the competition has stepped up many levels. If your a company who specifically only manufacture a single sports equipment then this is the type whom the pressure is grater and there budgets for advertising and sponsorship have reduced dramatically.

Obviously some companies will survive but believe me if the big boys get serious then some brands wont be around much longer and that's my honest opinion and lets look at things again in 12-24 months ?