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Author Topic: What makes Storm so Special?  (Read 14141 times)

LoganS

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What makes Storm so Special?
« on: July 02, 2012, 05:30:03 PM »
Why does everyone sweat Storm bowling balls?? What makes them so popular? Is it the smell? It seems like everywhere I go, I see more Storm equipment than any other brand. WHY?

 

milorafferty

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2012, 05:42:30 PM »
Maybe they just crank out more balls than any other single brand? Or are they are better at building brand awareness through advertising?

One company has to be tops in sales. Look at sports shoes, is Nike really any better than the other leading brands? Or just better at advertising?
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Mr Straight Ball

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2012, 06:03:19 PM »
What makes Storm so special? That can only be answered by "you", everyone will swear about "their" brand of choice. Have you thrown any to form your own opinion.
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Rightycomplex

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2012, 07:40:17 PM »
They are popular. They give people the "stand left, throw right, flip hard on the backend" reaction they want. They're very good balls from top to bottom. Most of theyre better balls are in the mid-price point, which makes it affordable to have multiple balls compared to 1 high performance ball from another company. Their mid price equipment is probably the best on the market and can contend against most companies high performance balls. Their high performance equipment is very smartly put together and usable on THS.  They do a great job of marketing and sponsorship which sells their equipment. Their ball finishing system is copied by all the other major ball companies

And all of this from someone who doesnt own a storm ball. Lol! Just being real.
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RotoStorm864

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2012, 11:25:43 PM »
I agree with righty 100%! I just think they're lines are put together so well it makes going from ball to ball really easy. Usually the trend is a solid..hybrid..then a Pearl (in no particular order). They seem to keep it simple and go with what works. I personally live the thunder and tropical line. Pretty much all I use on ths. I bowl leagues in two houses and one plays quite  a bit dryer than the other. I take the tropicals there and use my roads in the tighter house. They market really well and it doesn't hurt all the success they have had on tour in recent years. Oh..and they smell good ;). I'm biased though I'm a storm and roto guy all the way but I'm not blind. Other companies make great equipment as well. Storm Inc. Is just my choice.

loop_zero

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2012, 05:15:44 AM »
Marketing and advertising.
Better incentives then the other companies, therefore more people throwing them on TV.

dmonroe814

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2012, 08:02:39 AM »
Always been a Columbia guy.  First Storm was a NANO.  Didn't like it.  A lot of over under reaction.  Worked with it a while, rolled a 795 last summer.  It is a good ball, but I had to get the drill right for me.  Was looking for a replacement for my C300 Outburst.  Triied the Storm Modern Marvel.  Second game out of the box was a 300.  It became an instan favorite.  I am not in the habit of smelling my balls a lot, so the fragrance dosen't mean much to me.  The NANO is a very hard flip and the Marvel is a strong arch.  I use a lot of different brands.  I believe Marketing and price point have a lot to do with it.  Also they have a lot of big name pros using it, so I think they must give them a lot of incentives.
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taylors23

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2012, 08:45:04 AM »
No offense Storm has not been in any other market until now. So all they could do was focus on bowling balls. Now they are in the shoe business. I think they will start going down little by little by focusing on the shoe part. Take Ebonite and AMF and brunswick. They are all working with Bowling alleys pinsetters and ball returns and even in the computers, but recently they turned their attention to their ball line. Back in the day when i started everyone was throwing Ebonite and a little Brunswick because they were ahead of everyone in ball motion now that is Storm and everyone is trying to catch up.
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greenefam

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2012, 09:41:21 AM »
Actually Storm is kind of in the shoe business.  Dexter is making their shoes for them and doing a bunch of the sales and marketing.  I can't believe Storm is putting much of their resources in shoes.

There have been large ups and downs in the bowling ball business over the years.  At times Ebonite, Columbia, and Brunswick were on top so I wouldn't read too much into Storm's current position as one of the best selling brands right now. 

Since bowling balls are a very established business and there is really not much 'new' you can do it is really a matter of execution in order to do well.  Right now Storm seems to be doing a good job in many areas of the business; sales, marketing, and product development.  It doesn't hurt that a large percentage of national and international bowlers are throwing their equipment.

billdozer

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2012, 12:05:27 PM »
I think they are more conservative with ideas with a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" approach, while improving on winning and proven products.  Imo have they really made a flop in the past few years? I'm really trying to think of one..
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northface28

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2012, 12:49:52 PM »
I personally liked it, but the Invasion can be considered a flop.
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islenmetfan4life

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2012, 01:49:10 PM »
what draws me to storm is how they stick with cores and covers that are proven to work and be versatile. there's not as much trial and error with their balls, you pretty much know what to expect when you drill one. they have so many more balls on the market than other brands, but I like how there's a solid, hybrid, and pearl in each line. it's easy to come up with an arsenal that fits your game, regardless of your style. storm keeps it simple more than any other company, and the scents are just an extra bonus.

storm making it rain

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2012, 02:13:33 PM »
Agreed with the ease of piecing together an arsenal with their product line.

Also from a pro shop's perspective they (in my opinion) have the longest shelf life of any company out there.  Rarely do you see balls getting discontinued within a year of their release date.  Alot of the time you have balls in the product line for years before being replaced ie: Hyroad, Virtual Gravity, etc.

Nor Cal Bowler

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2012, 07:23:38 PM »
Is this a hate on storm thread???

avabob

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Re: What makes Storm so Special?
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2012, 10:21:02 PM »
It goes back to the beginnings of the company.  It was run by bowlers, and they put a lot of guys on staff over the years to both get the message out, and get feedback on equipment.  They grew up in the resin era, and although Columbia and Track originally had better resin balls in the early mid 90s, Storm had some great break throughs with the Bolt, and El Nino that caught them a lot of the market by 2000.  Storm was further helped by Columbia and Brunswick business decisions.  Columbia basically bet the company on the epoxy ball which was a failure, and probably ultimately lead to their demise.

Brunswick went another direction with technology at the same time they opted to move to Mexico.  The Furys Wilds, and C System balls were not as good as the infernos and Zones they replaced.  Whether it was design, or quality control, who knows, but it made the decision for a lot of people to go another direction easy at the time. 

Ebonite has always suffered from the perception that their shells don't hold up without meticulous maintenance beyond what a lot of bowlers are willing to invest.

At the end of the day, Storm makes very good equipment, and nobody is better to their bowlers than Storm.