Bong in big trouble

[marcus]

Yes but then again Adele refers to the "surfie culture"

How do you all feel being part of the surfie culture. I know I feel all tingly.

bloody waxheads

[Grooter]

Yes but then again Adele refers to the "surfie culture"

How do you all feel being part of the surfie culture. I know I feel all tingly.

Why it is the whole reason I got into surfing

To belong

[petulance]

Yes but then again Adele refers to the "surfie culture"

How do you all feel being part of the surfie culture. I know I feel all tingly.

Reminds me of my previous trip where the driver kept playing Adele's new CD on the way to the surf. And then this trip the driver kept playing La Roux ...

Oh wait. You mean Adele Ferguson from Fairfax ...

[Beanpole]

Yes but then again Adele refers to the "surfie culture"

How do you all feel being part of the surfie culture. I know I feel all tingly.

Come on. She is a keen skier.
Ah, the term credibility sinks slowly below the horizon as we wave Aloha to any chance of Bong being taken seriously again.

[Nick Carroll]

At what point do you reckon that a famed international pro surfer might begin to wonder if he should extract himself from an endorsement contract as a result of the brand becoming too uncool to support.

[daryl]

yep Nick, Derek looks like he has paid the price of his loyalty to gordon and those other directors are now going to force gordon's hand and put little miss k-mart at the helm of bong so she can really grab the cash as the send it spiraling into a race to the bottom.
paul Naude will be next but not just yet as they need him more than ever because they have NO idea about the US market and if Naude jumped ship they would loose any chance of TPG et al coming back for another bite at the carcas.
Derek can sup all day long now and plan some sweet revenge on those board boffins.
Buy Bong shares now?? Maybe if you are a speculator there will be a buck in it as they shut shops and cut back the lively hoods of many surfers with mortgages and a family to feed...out of work surfer, more crowds and more misery....Occy will look the goods with the $4.99 boardies and blow up bogie board

Why do you feel the need to denigrate this woman, just because she's a woman?

If they are doing it tough, Why shouldn't Billabong shut shops and sack employees? Are they a charity now?

[Karlos]

At what point do you reckon that a famed international pro surfer might begin to wonder if he should extract himself from an endorsement contract as a result of the brand becoming too uncool to support.

Hang on a mo', who's supporting who?

I can't imagine the likes of Parko or Occy especially wanting to give up that little cash-cow, no matter how 'uncool' they may become. Anyway, what makes a huge multinational conglomerate 'cool' anyway? As far as I can see, they'd be cool in the eyes of a 10 year old maybe. I'd like to think most of us with developed mindsets don't fall for all that edgy marketing guff surely?

Oh jesus, who am I kidding...

[Hollowed out]

^^ Charity??, getting a bit dramatic on that call.
point is that the Bong board made the call to go retail and now just blame Derek and put a 'person' in charge who has not a clue and it is revealed in Adell's latest story, does not even have the qualifications. Sooo she is out to impress at any cost and that may be a bunch of good surfing family people and probably won't even solve the problem, just trigger the next panic move. Maybe you got shares dazza and just wanna turn a buck, I don't have a cent in them , and never have, but I am opposed to greedy investors who do not care a bit for our culture using jack boot tactics to kick us around.
If you don't think that is happening just look at J-bay , Derek (20 years with Bong) and wait to see what is next...Occy gets king hit because his jaw is an easy target?

[collnarra]

I'm reading Salts & Suits. Never realised how intimately entwined Rip Curl and Quiksilver were in the very early days.

Just up to the bit about the founding of Billabong.

The thing I'm getting out of it so far is that although the founders of various companies might have been dodgy (and who isn't, in their own way?) they did it because a) they wanted to surf and b) they saw a market and business opportunity that would allow them to do so.

Finally, as Jarratt nails home again and again: Big is the enemy of cool. That's the biggest challenge the established brands are facing.

JG

[Karlos]

So I think we can agree that it's pretty much impossible for any huge conglomerate to be 'cool' right? Despite what the marketing cretins and their pre-teen audience may believe.

[daryl]

Daryl: the views expressed may not be mine own, now, I admit being reluctant to burning my electric blue recycled no-rash 'bong sorts, which I realize they are now. However, to use them surfing I could make them cut'offs like the pair of quikkies I surf in. Then they'll just be daggy. Suits me. Please excuse train of thought, always confused after finding I said something which doesn't reflect my feelings.


My shorts'll be cool once they're cut off.

[daryl]

^^ Charity??, getting a bit dramatic on that call.
point is that the Bong board made the call to go retail and now just blame Derek and put a 'person' in charge who has not a clue and it is revealed in Adell's latest story, does not even have the qualifications. Sooo she is out to impress at any cost and that may be a bunch of good surfing family people and probably won't even solve the problem, just trigger the next panic move. Maybe you got shares dazza and just wanna turn a buck, I don't have a cent in them , and never have, but I am opposed to greedy investors who do not care a bit for our culture using jack boot tactics to kick us around.
If you don't think that is happening just look at J-bay , Derek (20 years with Bong) and wait to see what is next...Occy gets king hit because his jaw is an easy target?

Dramatic you say.

"our culture" ?

It's all yours fool.

And you still didn't answer why you feel the need to denigrate that person on the basis of her being a woman?

[Hollowed out]

Darra, just the fact that you post here with your opinions and express your likes/dislikes IMHO clearly makes you part of "the culture", so a band of fools we all be. Or are you 'special' and don't fit any status quo like us fools.
I thought spelling out that no matter who the 'person' answered the male/female question, however let me make it clear that being a woman is no issue for me and in fact a recent story about how many more boards should have women in place is very interesting and makes a lot of sense. Bong chairman ted klunkel is not a woman and I reckon he should have been the first to go as it was under his watch that shares dropped from the sky.
Big and cool can go together, just look at patagonia as an example of doing it right and prolly Rippy are next best (although a long way from Pata) because Claw and Singding still privately own it and have kept the bankers and greed merchants at bay and have continued to support and play a vital role in surfing history.

[Hollowed out]

jeeeeewizzz, daryl, just checked and you have posted 5600 posts on here....and you are calling you are not part of 'the culture', the only other one you could be in is the 'keyboard bashing sore wrist society for getting a life'...meetings held daily and all weekends.

[Beanpole]

EEEEEEEKKKK, someone refered to a woman as she.

The fact that anyone would take over a major supposedly core surf brand who doesn't surf is cause for a big
but hardly surprising. The business has just hit the double whammy of too big so everyone wears the brand and global recession.
If you want to turn it into gender politics go ahead and enjoy yourself.

[daryl]

jeeeeewizzz, daryl, just checked and you have posted 5600 posts on here....and you are calling you are not part of 'the culture', the only other one you could be in is the 'keyboard bashing sore wrist society for getting a life'...meetings held daily and all weekends.

Some opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, this being a party line and all.

Sheesh, don't have to get personal there are scarifices required to get to be an owl

[zingomar]

Firstly B'bongs retai strategy was a poor one - running a large retail chain is very different from being a manufacturer / brand.

But is the wider sense of how the world works....

One theory of society is that there are producers (e.g. farmers in ancient times) and plunderers (who live by raiding the producers).

Today the plunderers wear suits and work at Wall Street rather than ride camels or horses carrying weapons. Parasite / host setup.

Today the parasite (finance industry, banks etc) has grown so big and powerful it is killing the host. The parasite control the government, writes the laws and is largely immune from the law.

History shows major cycles where the dark times happen once the plunderers go too far. Companies show the same cycle.

[oldman]

Anyway, what makes a huge multinational conglomerate 'cool' anyway? As far as I can see, they'd be cool in the eyes of a 10 year old maybe. I'd like to think most of us with developed mindsets don't fall for all that edgy marketing guff surely?

Oh jesus, who am I kidding...

Exactly.

You guys think it was a bad move when the bean counters took over. You are right of course, but that ain't nothing to the apocalypse of watching the marketing department take over.

If you haven't worked it out yet, we are about half way there. Some companies, businesses, parts of government, are effectively run as marketing departments.

The rest are either sitting back unaware that 'The Blob' is just about to suck them into its gargantuan maw, or they are fighting what is probably a pathetic rearguard action.

Will you still be able to recognise cool when the marketers have taken over?????????

Do you think the Mayans foresaw the obliteration of society by the marketers?

Be afraid, be very afraid.