Just general surfing stuff

[Davros]

[steve shearer]

"Since the WSL assumed ownership they've been amazingly fluid with their strategies. They've tried many different things, and the things that haven't worked they've quickly tossed aside and replaced. Gotta hand them that."

Have they? In what sense?

And what is a "mercurial marketing push"

and how do they monetise a FB stream?

[2nd Reef]

Media strategies I'm referring to. How they've utilised social media to expand their reach. I noticed a subtle shift not long after the WSL came on and they began to cast their net, not just over 'pro surf', but over anything to do with surfing. Sounds small but they repositioned themselves as the one stop shop for everything to do with surf.

Examples? Chris Burkard has never shot a surf contest in his life but the WSL enthusiastically repost him (and many others like him). Laird Hamilton has never surfed a contest but the WSL is bankrolling his doco. Like Surfing Australia, they've discovered not everyone is into comp surfing, but if they exploit the whole surfing population they can make their niche product stronger.

The WSL also tried various online strategies to reach more people, including how they push link management through social media. There's also been the more obvious ones such as adopting Neulion or altering the webcast.

As for the marketing push: When Google and YouTube are shitting about what's coming from FB you can bet it's gonna be something big.

https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/faceb ... nd-go.html

Plenty more news like that on other tech sites.

[Davros]

My girlfriend just cut a deal with 2GB. 100k. Not much I know but the meeting went for 1 minute.

Yeh SEO and G ads and all that stuff is the way. Evolving with changing algorithms to make more $.

Guessing 2nd Reef is a digital marketeer

[steve shearer]

Still not sure what you mean....what many things have they tried and then tossed when they didn't work?

Not being aggravating, genuinely curious.

I've noticed those subtle shifts you refer to but haven't really seen any big shifts in strategy since they took over.

It's the business model itself and the product that seems to be the problem.......as evidenced by the dumping of the Tour by Samsung and the lack of a tour sponsor and the extremely tepid response from the market to picking up marquee events like Fiji and J-Bay, which are clear favourites with fans.

[2nd Reef]

I agree, the model and the product are set and they've made few changes to those. However, to make the biz model work they need eyeballs and since writing those first articles I've been watching their online strategies - the means to increase those eyeballs - pretty closely. Some things are simply language, though it's hard for me to pull up examples, others are only making few photos or video available to media so everyone has to go thru their dot com (and then changing back again), or using various platforms such as Snapchat and Vine, both of which were tested and tossed, to YouTube which has had varying success for them and will soon take less priority.

Again, I'm referring to online strategies to increase their database and hence their viewership.They may sound trivial but guaranteed these aren't happening by chance, they'll be well considered because the WSL needs to expand its viewership and it has to happen online.

[Trev]

My girlfriend just cut a deal with 2GB. 100k. Not much I know but the meeting went for 1 minute.

Yeh SEO and G ads and all that stuff is the way. Evolving with changing algorithms to make more $.

Guessing 2nd Reef is a digital marketeer

You can find 2reef on another surf site.

[Davros]

Oh.

Your talking standard CRM mgt there 2nd R.

[buddy]

Anyone had experience with one of these? There's one on gumtree I'm considering. http://www.bourtonshapes.com/the-stinger/

Murray is a highly regarded shaper, he has also worked closely with Bruce McKee in the past, and that board looks mighty fine.

Well thats just fanning the flames isn't it, Yuke Hunt?

[Davros]

McKee set up. What's the big deal?

[buddy]

There was no new information, but it has just kept me interested. Looks like a fun board.

[Davros]

No. I mean what's the big deal with McKee set ups? I don't know the difference btw his and a normal quad.

[Nick Carroll]

And where did that number come from?

I got this via two separate sources, one is a big event promotor who goes to their wacky board meetings and is tapped into strategy etc and another is a key senior WSL employee.

It's no super mega secret at this point though.

[Beerfan]

McKee set up. What's the big deal?

I think the idea is that it's a quad that surfs similar to a thruster. Smaller gap between rear fins, unlike fishy style quads with rears way out on the rails.

Could be wrong. His website is cool from memory

[Nick Carroll]

I don't think 3.5 million can mean 3.5 million separate people. At best, it is 3.5 million unique devices.
If you check the WSL site on your phone, then pop into the site on your work computer, then later on your Ipad, you would be counted as 3 unique viewers.

To add to the multiplication, are these counts still being done by cookies because, if so, if you delete your cookies you will count as a new person the next time you go to the site.

Good points foamy. It would have been nice to know the number of signed up users, that would be a better gauge of their viewers.

Look what this would be is a bit more thoroughly examined than separate clicks, it's looking at people who consistently come back to watch CTs through a year, based on three years' data.

Interestingly it is not too far off what a sensible estimate of the world's committed surfing population would be.

[Nick Carroll]

McKee set up. What's the big deal?

I think the idea is that it's a quad that surfs similar to a thruster. Smaller gap between rear fins, unlike fishy style quads with rears way out on the rails.

Could be wrong. His website is cool from memory

Bruce McKee originated the modern down the line tube riding performance quad set-up. He's done more work with it than anyone else.

[Yuke Hunt]

Bruce McKee originated the modern down the line tube riding performance quad set-up. He's done more work with it than anyone else.

Yep, Crosby's the real deal. If you doubt that, take a gander at the info on his web site, he's the Gyro Gearloose of quad technology.

[Beanpole]

Anyone had experience with one of these? There's one on gumtree I'm considering. http://www.bourtonshapes.com/the-stinger/

Murray is a highly regarded shaper, he has also worked closely with Bruce McKee in the past, and that board looks mighty fine.

Well thats just fanning the flames isn't it, Yuke Hunt?

I've had a fat bullet for a while. I really like his bottom shape.....the cathedral bottom. If it had more tail lift it would be all time.....IMHOP. Brilliant glass jobs as well.