Author Topic: SUP The Mag "reviews"  (Read 28212 times)

coldsup

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SUP The Mag "reviews"
« on: November 27, 2014, 10:14:07 PM »
Really annoys me when surf and SUP mags post so called reviews of gear on their Facebook pages or in magazines when all they are is a marketing push of a product or products. Take a recent post from SUP the Mag.....full review of the new Quicksilver wetsuit for winter it said and by video....great I thought. I watched it waiting for some sort of pros and cons or comparisons to other similar suits but oh no....it was straight forward sell of a the wetsuit with no critique at all. So, after wasting my time watching it I posted a response asking where the critique was, what are the pros and cons? The answer was a straight delete of my post  :D  so glad we have sites like this where you can get an actual proper review. Needless to say....I don't buy any of these mags and don't bother liking them on Facebook.

supsurf-tw

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2014, 02:38:07 AM »
Really annoys me when surf and SUP mags post so called reviews of gear on their Facebook pages or in magazines when all they are is a marketing push of a product or products. Take a recent post from SUP the Mag.....full review of the new Quicksilver wetsuit for winter it said and by video....great I thought. I watched it waiting for some sort of pros and cons or comparisons to other similar suits but oh no....it was straight forward sell of a the wetsuit with no critique at all. So, after wasting my time watching it I posted a response asking where the critique was, what are the pros and cons? The answer was a straight delete of my post  :D  so glad we have sites like this where you can get an actual proper review. Needless to say....I don't buy any of these mags and don't bother liking them on Facebook.
Wow a mag pushing sponsors products...Shocking!
Even if they did critique it it would be all sunshine and roses anyway.
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coldsup

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #2 on: November 28, 2014, 04:41:51 AM »
Aye - I know - sunshine and roses. 

Interesting as I was just reading a walking magazine who where reviewing a load of mountain jackets - each one given pros and cons and stars and recommendations...or not. So it can be done.

addapost

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2014, 06:38:30 AM »
It can be done. Most of the major sea kayak magazines have real reviews of boats and gear that they are also accepting paid ads for. The reviews are as fair and unbiased as you can get. They do offer the manufacturer the chance rebut any criticism. I stopped looking at all of the SUP magazines a while ago.
Bunch of old shit

TN_SUP

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2014, 06:41:11 AM »
It's annoying that their buyers guide only includes brands that advertise in their mag instead of representing a good cross section of available boards.
'13 SB Sprint, '15 SIC X-14 ProLite, RH Coastal Cruiser, Think EZE Ski, Kenalu Konihi 84  & Mana

Rakky

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2014, 08:24:21 AM »
I was on the Surfer online site, and going through a 'Review' of surfboards and wetsuits, to get the pros and cons.  Nothing of the sort.  Just ads of the wetsuits, and essentially the company's promotion pasted onto the review site.  Not helpful at all. 
Other magazines have great reviews, including regular people testing the product and writing a review (one of the running magazines).   I like this Forum for the very reason, the reviews and pics are great (but please disclose any industry ties). 
Starboard widepoint 8'10. 
I'm 5'11 and 185 = high BMI

Ichabod Spoonbill

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2014, 08:54:18 AM »
I think one could do well with a SUP magazine that was about the average SUP dude/gal. Non biased equipment reviews on all sorts of boards. Articles about paddling in all sorts of interesting but non-exotic places. Interviews with normal people who paddle. Tips for all sorts of conditions.

I've been thinking about it.
Pau Hana 11' Big EZ Ricochet (Beluga)

PonoBill

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2014, 09:33:24 AM »
It's a lot of work for not much money. In the golden age of magazines, which shockingly was only about 15 years ago, there were lots of people buying advertisements in any specialty magazine. Now there are very few. Magazines had the luxury of separating ad sales and journalism. Now they don't. In the past if you suggested any kind of connection between content and your advertising dollars they'd get huffy. Now they'll drop right to their knees. Online magazines have never had that luxury, or that journalistic tradition.  Which, by the way, is gone from almost every publication of any sort with very rare exception. I'd never say "never", but entering a dying industry where the few people making money have devised ever more devious ways to marry content to marketing would be a tough row to hoe, and a brisk dash of cold water against anything resembling ethics.   

The "smartest" publications are selling not just your attention, but your data. Click by click, mouse hover, time spent on each article, buying history, location, type of device used, and which pocket you keep your wallet in. If they could just wire a sensor to your eyeballs they'd really have something--and they would. It's going to get a lot uglier.

So here's the thing. You're a manufacturer, struggling in a competitive market, with a limited advertising budget. Two magazines will do everything you want, one tells you all about their journalistic integrity. Where do you spend your money?

In a very few markets, the leading publications have enough history and enough strength to continue to put integrity first. But when one goes to the dark side, they all have to go, or they can just watch their publication shrink to a pamphlet.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2014, 09:45:36 AM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

pdxmike

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2014, 10:02:09 AM »
It's not new.  Home/design magazines will replace all the furniture in a room with new stuff from their advertisers.  And I know someone who was a little girl in the 1950s when Sunset magazine featured her family's house.  But Sunset swapped out her own dark-haired mother for a new, blonde one that better fit the image they wanted to portray.  My friend had been happy with her own mother, and thought the switch was permanent.  I'm not sure if she ever recovered. 

stoneaxe

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2014, 12:19:05 PM »
It goes beyond just the reviews. It's unlikely you'll see a story about an event that doesn't advertise. Something we've struggled with for the CCBC. We try to make sure we squeeze every dollar and every one spent on advertising is one that doesn't go to the kids. But all it needs to do is bring in one paddler to pay for itself so its worth it. No question it brings coverage along with it. I don't care for the way things are but I can't blame mags for doing what they have to do to stay alive. I still read and look at the pictures.

Don't think the zone is without some governance and even censorship. There are advertisers here and it does effect the conversation, not in the same sense as the mags but it does exist. Forums have their owns issues. One of the things that has to be watched for here is the hype that affiliation brings. There is also a grey line that exists between being a fan and being a promoter or even a salesman. At one point it got pretty bad here with lots of bogus posts promoting product, some from bogus logins. I think admin has done a decent job controlling it but it's caused issues. We lost some good folks because of it.

Think of how tough it has to be for mags these days. The zone is largely responsible for the success of a couple of (these days) well known things in the SUP world. No question we owe some if not most of the success of the CCBC to the zone and Ke Nalu went from unknown to major player without ANY mag advertising........ :o. That had to open a lot of eyes. I think one of the things that makes advertising in the mags is their FB presence as much as anything. A big part of Clay's pitch to sell space in SUJ is the FB eyes on. Speaking of SUJ....we just missed the deadline for the spring issue precisely because we've been thinking about the money spent. It's a great mag and I love it personally but we may treat this as an experiment. Our magic number of paddlers for the event is around 75. So long as we can maintain between 50-100 a year without advertising we're good. We'll have to up our own FB efforts and rely on the stoke of our paddlers (which thankfully we have in abundance) to spread the word and grow the family.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2014, 12:23:45 PM by stoneaxe »
Bob

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PonoBill

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2014, 12:38:01 PM »
Good content still matters. One of the ways to get stories about event like the CCBC is to write them and do a great job of it. A magazine is unlikely to make the effort to cover something unless there's some kind of payout, but if it's free and easy, then what the heck. Especially for online where there's no print cost.

I've thought about doing a big board review project just for the fun of it. I'd want to plan it so it didn't cost me any money. Probably do it in Hood River. The board review we did for Ke Nalu back when it was an online magazine cost me about $15K all in, so that won't be the model, but it gives you some idea of why magazines don't do stuff for free.

It all becomes obvious where the limitations are when you see an event like the BOP or the Gorge Paddle Challenge that gets covered by only one or two of the pubs.  SUP the Mag is all over the BOP and does their award party that week. Great party, must cost them a small fortune. Well run event. They know what they're doing. They'll probably be one of the survivors, they seem smart enough to make it work. It's not idealized journalism, it's a business. Anyone not doing it that way will have a short run or has to have a big ego and a big wallet.

I love the Sunset Magazine example. I always thought the pictures in that magazine look so fake, and the people look so gooky that every shot must be posed according to some bizarre specification. Someone has to be laughing while another person has a bite of perfectly arranged food almost to their mouth, head turned to receive the food, mouth is just starting to open and there's no tongue. Stepford people, very spooky.
« Last Edit: November 28, 2014, 12:41:52 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

marvinhecht

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #11 on: November 29, 2014, 03:50:20 AM »
It's also getting hard to find SUP magazines themselves! The local safeway does not have them anymore. Borders shut down, and here in Oahu the Barnes and Noble in Kahala mall shut down, so now I have to go to Ala Moana mall which I believe is the only "new" bookstore on the island. I just can't believe what's happening to print media all-around. It's kind of sad overall (being a former professor) - people now just Google to get their "knowledge" and we know that whatever is in Google (or Bing) is not always true (or weighed equally in the results).

Getting back to SUP magazine -- one thing I notice lately also is that the SUP magazines are starting to do more and more articles and advertisements on SUPs for the "inland" - e.g. lakes, rivers, white-water rafting. Even Laird himself has that new blue flatwater racing SUP he is promoting, and Surftech's 2015 lineup is geared toward flatwater, outdoors, etc - not necessarily DW or surfing.  It must be that the growth potential is much bigger if you target the whole USA versus just the Oceanside or big lake areas (e.g. Tahoe). I guess that's good for SUP as a sport overall.  I personally though like  SUP surfing and DW-ing, but this trend in the magazine content makes me even less likely to driver over to Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest copy of SUP the mag (or the thicker one that has a lot of pictures- Standup Journal).

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Hoe Nalu Carbon Paddle (Surfing)
QuickBlade 86 Trifeca Carbon Paddle (Flatwater)

PonoBill

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #12 on: November 29, 2014, 07:57:22 AM »
It's the delivery mechanism that's dying, not the content. I haven't bought a paper book for a year, but I have 478 books in my Kindle cloud and a few in iBooks. The magazines that survive in paper will deliver something you don't get on a computer--high resolution images, beautifully presented. But when the majority of displays are 4k or better the reason for their existence will be weakened as well.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

SURFnTURF

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #13 on: November 29, 2014, 03:19:02 PM »
Money is a great motivator. Even the websites are doing it.   One of the more popular sites for information has never posted a negative review of a product.  If you knew who was doing the "testing" you'd abandon the site as I have, but not just for that reason.    The people behind the site also organize one of the more popular races in the country.  It's a great race; we'll organized with a conveniently suitable venue, and everyone has a great time.  However the means they use to fund it are questionable, at the expense of those seeking guidance the most.  Complaints are met with misdirection, name calling and more lies.
    The end justifies the means, right,?
Beer is good for you!

SURFnTURF

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Re: SUP The Mag "reviews"
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2014, 03:22:16 PM »
Money is a great motivator. Even the websites are doing it.   One of the more popular sites for information has never posted a negative review of a product.  If you knew who was doing the "testing" you'd abandon the site as I have, but not just for that reason.    The people behind the site also organize one of the more popular races in the country.  It's a great race; we'll organized with a conveniently suitable venue, and everyone has a great time.  However the means they use to fund it are questionable, at the expense of those seeking guidance the most.  Complaints are met with misdirection, name calling and more lies.
    The end justifies the means, right,?
Beer is good for you!

 


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